HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVE TO ME!! TOMORROW I'LL BE 23!!

Twenty three years ago today Debra Ann Hensley was sporting a beachball belly and some amoeba like maternity clothing (which she absolutely hates) while anxiously awaiting the arrival of her newest family member. Then on April 13, 1983, the world (and Deb) was blessed with me, Leiah Joy Scott (now Hensley). Needless to say it has been quite an eventful 23 years.
Mom asked me my earliest memory before and I don't remember exactly what I told her but I am thinking far back now and seeing my little toy sink that really squirted water. I remember playing in the dining/playroom at St. Germaine Ct. washing all my tea party dishes with my stepsister, and I think we were pretty young at that time. I also remember playing in the closet of my bedroom at St. Germaine that has a wooden slope that doubled as a wonderful mountainside location for Barbie to experience some devistating sort of natural disaster. This closet is the very place I learned to tie a bow. I was sick of Barbie having to wear the same outfit day in and day out because Amber got tired of tying her shirts on over and over and tied them all in knots. You could either cut the ties of the shirt of rip Barbie's head off which always broke that knobby thing that acted as her "neck" and when you smooshed her head back on she didn't diserve to be wearing the new shirt because she was a no-neck and no longer a favorite. She became inevitably a victim of the mountian top tornado that consisted of being tied to the sashes of my dresses and spun out of control by little hands. And Harvey Brown Preschool where we made rainbow toast and I kissed a boy named Peter under the table.
I remember a lot about St. Germaine and even more about Blossom Ln. The time Amber and I got into a fight and she locked herself in the half bath downstairs. I tried to shove the door open and she screamed bloody murder...that I had just somehow poked her eye out with the door. Then there was the final time I threw away my passy only to discover my thumb which would later lead to having braces twice. Playing at Mother of Good Coucil in the pine trees by Westport Rd. That time Ryan Babbitt tied Betsy's little red wagon to his bike and sped down the hill of MGC's driveway with me in it and getting quite a concrete strawberry on my thigh when the wagon tipped on it's side. I remeber Shannon being jealous that Amber was my buddy pal buddy and wanting a nickname for herself. She became my squirmy worm that day. I remember hanging out at Plantation...going off the high dive in the summer and sledding down the big hill in the winter.
I had a lot of fun there but not as much as in Louisiana although my biggest memory of Lake Charles is being outside. I would have to say that out of exploring the grounds at the end of our street, distroying the fire ant hills with a stick, and swimming to keep cool in the summers, my favorite time there was when Amber and I painted Daddy's saw horses and tied a pillow around them like a saddle and played horses. They were not the most effecient horses as far as mobility but it was great fun none the less and I believe we still have those saw horses, grafitti and all, in mom and dad's garage today.
When we moved to Lexington I was in fifth grade and summer consisted of playing kickball and wading in the nearby creek for the first year. During the school year I would spend my weekends at the mall or the movies with my friends...all by ourselves. We were so cool. Espcially me with my perm and tight rolled jeans. Every summer after that was spent at my friend Susan's farm riding horses or at the lake with her family. Actually we rode horses pretty much all year round. Middle school and some of high school aren't very active in my memory. I think because I was grounded for my grades a lot during those years.
Once in high school I did manage to keep my G.P.A up enough to get to participate in sports so I played volleyball and ran track until I moved back to Louisville between 10th and 11th grade. I still played volleyball in Louisville but quit track due to shin splints and an ankle injury. I had a few good friends in those two years in Louisville. Amira Shalati (whose birthday is today April 12th) and John Suter who would make me laugh constantly and Shauna Douglas who support my Nsync addiction to the fullest. I also met Matty G., the brother I never had, in the beginning of these years.
Despite all the academic struggles I always seemed to have in the later school years I still managed to graduate from Ballard High School on time in May, 2001. Two weeks later I ventured into college life at the University of Kentucky and stayed there for two years with a declining academic slope. Then I transferred to Lexington Community College to pursue a Dental Hygiene degree. Academic Suspension led to two years off of school and waiting tables, but it seems I have finally gotten on track and learned how to succeed in school. It requires actually going to class and actually studying the material...imagine that. It'll only be two more years until I have the degree. I will be taking fall '06 semester off to welcome my first child into the world and adjust to being mommy. In fall of '07 I should be accepted to the Dental Hygiene Program at what is now BCTC (Formerly LCC) and will graduate in May '09.
All in all it has been a wonderful adventure for the past 23 years and looks like a hopeful future lies ahead. I would like to thank my family for always believing in me and supporting me and providing me with unconditional love. Also, I'd like to thank my friends for keeping it fun and unpredictable all the way.