One thing’s for sure, I learned how to fight/defend myself real quick! I will never forget the beatings I took from multiple kids at once between kindergarten and 3^rd  grade, all because I was “different.” I didn’t speak english well. I remember my parents trying desperately to fight for me with the principal and teachers but no one cared enough about a couple of immigrants, apparently. My parents took a financial hit by sending me to a private school called Transfiguration, a Catholic school. There, the beatings ended and I made some very good/close friends that I have reconnected through FB. But the beatings outside of school continued. That neighborhood between Western and Rockwell on Lawrence was horrific. I remember taking on 2 kids sometimes 3 but after that it was too much! Little punks, I’d kick their asses one-on-one, they knew better.

I could defend myself but I know for sure that a major reason why I did not like to instigate fights or hurt others as I transitioned into the pre-teen and teenage years, was because I knew what it felt like getting kicked all over my body and punched in the face, not good!!! So why do it to someone else? I still can’t believe I thought that way. You see normally a child being abused eventually becomes THE abuser him/herself. I can say I was blessed with some abnormal wiring. How I made it through those 1^st 7 years after getting back from Greece was a miracle on its own, not only from a physical point of view but from an educational one. How did I keep up with grades appropriate enough to move me to the next grade? Those memories still haunt me and I once in a great while wonder whatever happened to those bullies? What saved me was moving from Gunnison and Rockwell (4 blocks south of St. D’s) to 4 blocks north of St. D’s, just an 8 b lock difference. The neighborhood was nicer, safer and I got plugged into the church, where I made some life long friends. I started playing soccer
and basketball which then the next page of my life began. Those were the
glorious days!!!!