Linda Ricciardi:
CLASS OF 1990
Taft High SchoolClass of 1990
Chicago, IL
Linda's Story
I grew up in Norwood park in a normal environment. I have two parents who are (God Bless them) still married to this day. I'm the youngest of 5 I was the oops! baby but mothered by 4 mothers instead of one. I was THE WILD CHILD and tested the limits often.
I went to Norwood Park School until 3rd grade then my mother decided it would be better for me at I.C.
She took away my beloved Mrs. Frost and a lot of my zest for school I hated catholic school. But be it as it may I skated by without much effort on my part when my mom would ask if I did my homework I'd say sure (but I never did). Being she was a working mother when working mothers were not the norm and my dad owned his own business and worked to provide for us. This is where the limit testing started and ballooned from there.
Some of my greatest friends are from my neighborhood we all went to different schools and did different things and the funny thing is we all always stuck together. I use to love playing chase, kick the can and sleeping on each others front porches on chaise lounges.
So after I graduated from I.C. I was accepted to Lane Tech too bad I never went to class it was so bad that my mom at one point was picking me up and driving me and she and my father said you get a semester at Taft and if you don't go then off to all catholic girls school and that was enough to make me go.
So I started Taft in 1987 with one other girl I met at Lane Kathy Matranza what a sweet girl. Boy did I get her in some trouble with me and vice versa. I really tried to keep too myself although I did get into the party seen and hung out with various people on the weekends at different parties High school did not bring on any really great memories. It was summer of Senior year I met my soulmate and til this day my best friend my husband of 13 years Vito.
Vito and dated for 6 years prior to getting married on my birthday on 8-12-95. He was working sheet metal at the time and I had become a R.N. in '94 and the week before we were to get married he started the police academy for chicago. So after our wedding we traveled on cruises, florida, vegas St. Lucia, Punta Cana and various road trip...Expand for more
s in the U.S. and in may of 2004 we were on our way to Italy when I had my 2nd ectopic pregnancy and started developing sx's and went to the doctor and after 3 1/2 months of them trying to prove I had Hodgkin's lymphoma they finally confirmed the diagnose. I started chemo and was on my way to recovery at the same time a good friend of my husband's wife had a brain tumor. What a blessing we had each other at this time to be able to openly discuss are trials and thoughts of what we were going through. While I was well on my road to recovery Kim lost her battle on 8-20-02 but I know she is up there watching over me at the time I didn't have kids and thought I never would and she said to me I see you with 3.
The weird thing is her birthday is october 8 and I just found out my second pregnancy after the chemo was an ectopic and I felt this weird presence and was ok with it and knew Vito and I would have kids so we started the adoption process and we started seeing a fertility doctor again and in april of 2003 we were picked by a birth mother and in may of 03 we found out we were pregnant as well. I was going to have two babies 6 months apart. Wow that felt like 0 to 60 in 0.5 seconds but that was just a tease because the birth mother decided to keep the baby after having it in the car the way to the hospital 2 weeks before it was due. So I just focused on me and the health of the baby inside me and on 1-15-04 my beautiful baby girl Anna Marie arrived. So a few months before her first birthday I said to my husband let's do it again and see what happens and we did and were initially blessed with triplets that turned into a twin pregnancy and on 8-23-05 we welcomed our Handsome Boy boys Frankie and Enzo.
We have been so blessed and IT IS AMAZING HOW LIFE TURNS OUT.
I find it so surreal of how are past gives us the tools we need to deal with our future. Because what I put out there for the world to see or how the world views me is only a small portion of who I really am,
So do with my life story what you will if you didn't like me in highschool you probably would hate me even more now and if you liked me back then what were you thinking?
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
