Rita Zelasko:  

Well-here goes my second story attempt. It's somewhat difficult to write because I'm not sure how much I should be sharing and how much of what I write will actually be of interest to the reader. But-after going over so many profiles with nothing to look at--I decided that something is better than nothing. I did keep in touch with most of the girls I was friends with in grammar school so there is a somewhat larger connection through me. But back to my story, after St.Casimir, I went on to Harrison High School. Unfortunately, in that first year we had nothing but riots. So-I attended a freshman branch that was not linked to the main body of the school and that kept me safe during that rough year. However, my sophmore year brought me back to the main building on 24th and Marshall Blvd. Need more be said. I lost interest and eventually dropped out. It left me with little choices and so, by the time I was 17, I was not so happily married. A year later, I became a mom for the first time to a little boy. Two years later I had a little girl. Today, they are both in their 30's. It is somewhat amazing to me! So many people my age that I know are just sending their kids off to college or else they are still in high school. Well--I guess that is ok. I'm best friends with my daughter and we are very close. Well, the man I married, who was the older brother of a friend, turned out not to be prince charming. I should have known that was going to be the case. I hooked up with him on the rebound from another St. Casimir student who was a couple years older than our class. Anyway, he had many issues. Being a Viet Nam vet, he brought many issues to the marriage and none of them were good. So, after a very good try of 11years, it was time to let go. By now, I was at the ripe old age of 26. I had 2 children, no high school diploma, no property and pretty much a bleak future. It was a very hard uphill climb. I had to go back and get my GED. Not a big plus there. I ended up going to a secretarial school and learning to type. From there, I got a position with a hospital and was part of a staff run by a very dynamic physician. This physician, Dr.N. Gleicher became the role model that Harrison Ford used for his character in the movie "The Fugitive". Imagine my shock when I saw this fact when the two of them were on a television broadcast promoting the movie. Anyway, I met some very cool people in this office and one in particular became one of my closest friends (to this day)who steered me in the direction of moving on to college. She herself taught part-time at Columbia University, downtown. She got me to register at a local community college to get my feet wet and I did well. So for awhile, I just kind of took classes that held an interest for me and before long I had enough credits for an associate's degree in liberal arts. I guess at this point, I realized that I ought to apply myself to something and so I b...Expand for more