"IT CURES"

By: Robert Swinton

Introduction
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, does it work the other way around? Can a thousand words make a picture? We'll find out. The following story is about a little girl, a girl so little that she has just recently been able to hold her own bottle. You may think that one so young cannot possibly influence the life of a College Now Sociology student attending Staten Island Technical High School. That's where you may be wrong. This story is about a baby, an eleven-month old, named Kimberly Elizabeth Fiore. With these thousand words, I hope to paint a picture that shows everybody how she has influenced my life for the better. Read on:

"It Cures"
Do you believe in magic? I'm not talking about Harry Potter or Elizabeth Montgomery; I'm talking about something much more real, something different. There is always that one person in everyone's lives and an assumption that they can definitely make. "So-and-so is never going to be married. They're too preoccupied with other things." I know that I was saying this for the longest time about my Aunt Nancy. She was thirty-six as the time, a brilliant career woman who just happened to be married to her job. What did she need a house for? She was always working, so she just came home to sleep at my grandmother and grandfather's house. Aunt Nancy was always the best; she was the one everyone always wanted to be with. Little did she know that, within the next two years, her life would be turned upside down for the better.

I had never heard of a Mr. Ferdinand Fiore, III in my life until three years ago. Fred (a.k.a. Ferdy) was a man of about thirty-eight, working for A&P in Bayonne, New Jersey. All I knew was that my Aunt Tricia had arranged for him to accompany my Aunt Nancy to a wedding sometime in September. From the start, they seemed to be a perfect pair.

Christmas came and went; spring was here. It was still early into the spring when some beautiful music reached my ears. Fred had asked Aunt Nancy to marry him. Fred, a man not without comic relief, informed us all later that he almost tripped while proposing. They were married in The Church of the Holy Family on June 10, 2001. Uncle Fred and Aunt Nancy never pictured being married and being as happy as they turned out to be.

September 11, 2001 was a devastating event, as all of us can imagine. Thankfully, although working in the city at the time, none of my family was harmed. In the wake of that big mess, I received some more good news.

Every year, I volunteer for the American Cancer Society at the Breast Cancer Walk at Clove Lakes Park. I was finished and ready to come home, so I called my mom. After speaking with her for a few minutes, my mom informed me of some incredible news. Aunt Nancy was going to have a baby! This was unbelievable news. I always thought of her as Auntie Mame. She would always treat all of her nieces and nephews like they were princesses and princes. Now, she would have a little baby to complete her new family.

Nine months had passed in the blink of an eye. By this time, I had been working at my job, Gennaro's Restaurant and Pizzeria, for about ten months. On Friday night in the middle of the dinner rush, I got a phone call. It was my mom. Aunt Nancy had been admitted into Saint Vincent's Hospital. She was going to have the baby soon. I was speechless.

Saturday, June 8, 2002. It was two days before my aunt and uncle's first wedding anniversary. On this day, they received an early anniversary gift. Kimberly Elizabeth was born to these two proud parents at 3:44 p.m. Weighing in at just six pounds eleven ounces and being 20 inches long, she was the new number one priority in their lives. It all changed at that moment when the doctor said, "It's a girl."

Keep in mind, all that happened while the rest of the family was in the waiting room. After being kept in suspense for more than a half hour in front of a row of elevators, one of the dings was for us. The doors opened. There stood my Uncle Fred in a blue hospital gown with a blue hair covering on his head. I'll never forget that scene. He was as white as a ghost. He looked at my mom; my mom looked at him. Then Uncle Fred uttered out those words of joy. "It's a girl." Immediately, the tears began to flow as he hugged my mom. There I stood with the rest of the family, looking on at the proud new father, thinking of all that life had in store for him.

Kimberly gives me a reason to live. I live to make the world a better place for her and to influence her life in a great way. I'm already making sure that she grows up happy. When Kimberly smiles, she melts my heart and makes every problem that I could possibly have disappear. She helps me carry on through tough times; even though she can't talk, she let's me know, in her own special way, that they'll be better soon. Kimberly is that great miracle, and her smile and laughter is her great magic. It cures.

back to Student Work Menu