Last, but Certainly Not Least

The baby Betsy, the littlest sister who promised to stop growing up when she was eight, has rounded the corner to adulthood. Today she went to Merit Weekend at UK to get schooled about classes, campus and the Cats. Betsy will be the fourth of us four girls to set foot on UK's campus, the third generation of Hensleys to get their learnin on there. My dad's dad, Pa, was the first to go to UK, which is where my dad ended up after a stint at Loyola (all I really have of proof of his time there is a photo of him by the Loyola sign wearing long hair and no mustache, so it probably was just a joke), and where Shannon ended up after a stint at Agnes Scott, and where I ended up after a stint at Transy, and where Leiah started out before switching over to UK's little brother, BCTC. Betsy's not wasting any time or money (not yet, anyway) and going straight to UK, not passing private liberal arts college, not wasting $20,000.

In honor of Betsy first campus romp, I slept in until 2 pm. I crawled out of bed and stayed in my pajamas until Leiah made it over, at which point I threw on jeans and a Wildcats t-shirt, brushed my teeth, and headed to school. I parked illegally and left my flashers on to prevent a ticket, and me and Leiah walked through the familiar wind tunnel in front of Patterson Office Tower to meet Betsy and the parents at White Hall Classroom Building.

When I visited UK for the first time, my dad went with me. I thought the whole affair was kind of showy and a waste of time, so when my dad erupted into an unexpected and uncontrollable fit of laughter while we sat in the first row of a panel discussion among UK's pre-law and pre-med deans, I knew UK was out. To this day I don't know what he was laughing about. All I know is that that day, my dad got the closest anyone has ever come to shooting peanut M&M's out of their nose. He's been up to no good ever since.

Today, we walked into CB 106 to meet up with mom and dad and low and behold, he had already shifted into vandalism mode. While the etching of SH + DH (his initials and my mom's initials) is cute, it's a little disconcerting that it comes 20 years after their wedding and in an academic environment. Between his knife wielding and mom's suspicion that everyone passing by was going to steal "the bag," the hour and a half I spent on campus today was one of the most educational and entertaining I've ever had.

I conned Betsy into the wind tunnel and suckered her onto the Patterson peg-leg statue with me and Leiah for a UK pic. The cute little thing is nothing like her dad: "This is illegal," she said climbing onto the copper topped man. But I guess that's the difference between pre-grads and post-grads. Before you get the smarts, going outside the box is scary and intimidating. Once you get them, you find you have the ability to dodge trouble, the courage to risk it, and the talent for finding it. And oh the fun it brings.
Just don't be too bold with the trouble until you get the smarts, Betsy!! Otherwise, all you'll end up with is the trouble. I'm so proud of you. Congratulations on being the beautiful, talented person that you are, and good luck becoming the even more amazing person you'll grow into!