Written by: Justin Hessler
Lyla Hessler is a 7th grader at the Garden City Middle School in Long Island New York. She recently turned 13 years old this past May. She was born and raised in her hometown Long Island New York, where she currently lives. She has a big family, her mom Jacqueline Hessler, Father Thomas Hessler, and she has three siblings, her oldest brother Justin Hessler, her older sister Alex Hessler, and the youngest in the family her younger brother Tyler Hessler. That doesn’t complete her family yet as she has a dog which is a Cane Corso named Brody. Lyla has many interests, but she is a “sporty girl” as she claims. Her favorite sports are soccer and lacrosse. The family itself is very active year-round. Skiing in the winter, lake life in the summer with water sports, and individual sports all year around. As you can imagine this keeps the family busy all the time, running from one event to the other trying to keep up with four kids. Lyla grew up mostly riding in the back seat of the car going from game to game as a spectator to her older sibling sporting events. Soccer, baseball, lacrosse, cheerleading, and gymnastics. She got into Lacrosse because of her older sister Alex, as she states, “I loved going to see my big sister play and it really inspired me to pick up the stick and give it a try and now I am good at it, and I love lax.” Another comment she said, “Not only did I get inspired by my sister but when I did start to play lacrosse, she would often take me to Saint Paul's a sports complex by my house and trained me and showed me great tips.” She also went into camps and joined great youth lacrosse teams which she earned and worked hard to make those teams. She also made her 7th grade middle school team. Lyla as previously stated also plays soccer, she got inspired from her older brother Justin. Lyla states “I knew I wanted to play soccer and be a winger when I saw my brother at one of his games score the winning goal and see him and his teammates go crazy and the fans going nuts.” Outside of sports Lyla is quite the theater kid. She starred in her school play as the lead role, the play was “The Jungle Book.”
Although Lyla dove into mostly lacrosse and soccer her family encourages her to also always try new things and not limit herself to other activities or interests she may have. At 13 she is finding her way and learning what she wants to really pursue in the long run. It's a lot to juggle for a 13 year old who is also finding her way with friends socially, keeping up with assignments at school, and meeting her expectations in her spiritual and religious life. Lyla is very good at reaching out to ask for help and support to her family when she feels overwhelmed or is struggling emotionally or physically. As Lyla mentioned “It really helps to have older siblings who have had similar interests, experiences, ups and downs, and challenges that I can talk to and relate with.” One of the things Lyla’s very fortunate to have is a family that helps each other, that no matter what is going on for any of the family members if someone needs help or guidance, they are all there for each other. When you are 13 everything is new as you enter your teen years. When she has time off and just wants to kick back, she loves to go to the beach, play with her dog, play video games, and definitely hang out with her friends. Besides her love for sports Lyla has many other sides to her.
When she was little around 4 years old, she would talk and present to us her imaginary friend that she called “Yah-Bo-Dee-Dee.” Lyla would take her imaginary friend with her everywhere. In the car to the park, restaurants, and sometimes just hanging out in the den. She remembers vividly the day “Yah-Bo-Dee-Dee” left and Lyla still smiles when she tells the story. She tells the story almost as if it happened yesterday. She remembers getting into the car as her mother was taking her on errands putting her seat belt on in the booster seat she asked her mom if she can go back inside the house to get “Yah-Bo-Dee-Dee” but her mom refused and said, “no we are in a hurry Yah-Bo-Dee-Dee will have to wait.” Lyla kept pleading but her mom started the car and drove off. As Lyla looked back at the house pulling out of the driveway she could see “Yah-Bo-Dee-Dee” sitting on the roof waving goodbye with a big smile, little did she know that was the last time she would see him. As Lyla got older the one thing she wanted the most after “Yah-Bo-Dee-Dee” departed was a dog to call her own. Looking back there are so many stories good and bad that continue to mold and shape Lyla as she goes through new experiences that will live with her forever. Being 13 is not easy as she is trying to find her way and learning each day. But the one thing she knows, no matter how many stories good or bad and life lessons she learns, Lyla always feels the support of her family and she knows that's priceless.
