Page 3 - PGA Community News - December '23

December 2023 December 2023 PGA C.A.N.!, Page 3
From The Editor: The Miracle of a Birth…

The Christmas of 1978 in our midst. We have no way of knowing how many lives Enrico Fermi, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King Jr.
was momentous. My niece, will be touched by the birth of a child. Some of us meet and Nelson Mandela is a short list of names that comes
Jeanmarie, was born the hundreds of people in our lifetime. Others affect thousands to mind when I think of individuals who have impacted
week before on December and still others influence millions or billions of lives. many lives throughout recorded history. Moses, Gautama
18th in New York. I arrived There is no record of my paternal grandmother’s Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammed and Mahatma Gandhi
home late in the evening birth. Maria Caggiano was born in Manhattan sometime have changed the course of history with their spiritual
after spending the weekend around 1885. Children were born at home and few parents teachings. During this month as we celebrate Christmas
in Boston and my mother registered the births. We only know the year because of her and Hanukkah, let us reflect on the meaning of the miracle
exclaimed with joy, “Angel marriage certificate and my father’s birth certificate. She of a birth.
is in labor and we have to get never knew the day and month of her birth. She selected Until next month…
to the hospital.” The news June 15th later in life. We know little about her father and James A. Cioffi, Editor
filled me with excitement as the year he died. When she was five years of age, Maria james@jcclaw.com
we drove to our destination. Shortly after we arrived, we traveled with her mother and eight year old brother, Mike,
celebrated the miracle of a birth with a champagne toast. to Italy. Her mother died in London on the return trip
I was not in the birthing room so I did not know what to from Italy. Maria and her brother Mike traveled alone on Reminder From
expect when I saw my sister, brother-in-law, John, and baby the ship to New York and were raised by relatives. Maria
niece together for the first time. My sister and brother-in- never learned to read or write. She signed her marriage
law had smiles from ear to ear as they took turns holding certificate with an “X.” Maria and my grandfather, The POA/ARC
their first child. I thought my sister would be exhausted Clemente, experienced 13 births. Three of their babies
after the delivery but she was beaming. A new life was in did not survive the labor. In memory of those who did
our midst - a beautiful baby girl. not survive, the names were repeated with a subsequent POA documents
How different this scene was from Bethlehem birth. There were two Filomenas, two Williams and two require that all
almost two thousand years earlier, when Joseph and Michaels in the family of Maria and Clemente Cioffi. res idents apply
Mary were searching for a room as Mary was about to Maria was limited by the circumstances of her childhood for POA and HOA
deliver her baby, Jesus. How did Mary and Joseph feel in an era when women were not encouraged to attend
as the innkeeper said there was no room available? Who school. Her primary role was mother and homemaker. She approval prior to
directed them to the stable in unfamiliar environs? Was knew the value of education and encouraged her children making any changes
it a short labor? Did anyone assist in the birth? Was it a to attend school. Her grandchildren became educators, to the exterior of
cold evening? Did tears stream from Mary’s eyes when doctors and lawyers. Her great-granddaughters are your home, including but not limited to tree
she saw her son for the first time? Did Joseph assure physicians. Would baby Maria’s parents have imagined as removal or planting, new landscaping, painting,
Mary that everything would be fine? How long before the they gazed at her at birth that she would be the catalyst for roofing, additions or construction, fencing,
visitors appeared? There are few details about the actual generations of professional women in American society?
birth and many unanswered questions. One birth can change the world. The holiday movie, hurricane shutters, impact glass, play equipment,
The Christmas of 1981 was extraordinarily significant “It’s a Wonderful Life,” reminds us that we all have a garage door replacement or any other change, you
as we welcomed my second niece, Christina, into the purpose and have an impact on others. All aspects of must contact the PGA POA Architectural Review
world. I still remember her unusual thick dark head of our society have been affected by those who had an Committee for approval. Information and forms
hair as I saw Christina in her parents’ arms shortly after innate curiosity and sense of a greater purpose in their are available at www.pga-poa.com under the
birth. Once again the smiles abounded as Angel and John lives. Genghis Kahn, Socrates, Plato, Julius Caesar, “Documents & Forms” heading or call 627-2800.
admired their baby. How remarkable to see the fingers, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Michaelangelo, Leonardo
the feet, the eyes, the ears and hear the breathing of the DaVinci, Henry the Eighth, Ann Boleyn, Christopher Thank you,
infant while she is in your arms. Another miracle, another Columbus, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Jack Hughes,
life – with so many opportunities ahead of her. Another Abraham Lincoln, Madame Marie Curie, Susan B. Chairman, POA ARC
special holiday reliving the Christmas story with a baby Anthony, Sigmund Freud, Jonas Salk, Albert Einstein,

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