Wednesday, November 5, 2008

NINA, JENN & DREW...one ny visit



Nina and I here...looking through pictures. These were a couple of her fav's.

Nina says "We spent last night sharing drew stories and it was his bday. I especially love hearing about drew when he was a kid. We had a wonderful night and i asked Hana to write these stories down for me to read always."

p.s. my dad was a silly kid. ha ha ha.

I LOVE YOU DAD

2 comments:

youglow said...

thats great to hear about nina hearing about drew as a kid...
and hana writing down stories. i hope you all had a peaceful night together. thanks for sharing....
i love you guys....

Marcel Cairo said...

My wife and I were sitting together in our new kitchen here in Plano, TX, retracing the many twists and turns that got us here. We've been here in TX for one month now, fresh off the boat from Los Angeles. We're not from Los Angeles,though.

We started reminiscing about our days in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I said, "I wonder whatever happened to Drew." Last we heard from Drew, he told us in an email back in 2005 that he had just found out he has cancer. He was responding to an email I had sent him to let him know that we were the proud parents of our own Nina.

See, Leigh, my wife, and I met Drew and Nina at Enid's cafe in 2001 or 2002, I can't remember exactly. Nina couldn't have been more than 14 or 16 months. Leigh and I were sitting in the booth behind Drew, Nina and one of Drew's female friends.

Nina kept peering over her booth at Leigh and I throughout brunch. Nina had those big, deep, soulful eyes that just tore right through you. At one point, and I can't remember if we asked to hold her or if Drew offered, but Nina came over the booth to our side and she gave Leigh,(my girlfriend then, wife now) the most unbelievable hug. It wasn't the hug of a child giving a stranger a hug, it was a hug of a child clinging to a mother. Nina wouldn't let goof Leigh. At one point, it felt a little uncomfortable, as if somehow we were claiming Nina for ourselves, only that it was Nina who was claiming us. What struck me so amazing is that none of this fazed Drew at all. He wasn't the one that was uncomfortable with Nina's display of affection, it was us. Drew didn't ask Nina to come back to his booth, we made her go back because the moment was so surreal and so personal, we were embarrassed thinking that someone would think we were child nappers.

We paid our bill and walked out of Enid's completely rattled by the love Nina had given Leigh. We left Enid's that morning knowing something magical had just happened. I turned to Leigh and I said, "God wants us to have a Nina of our own." Remember, we weren't even engaged or married, but the truth of the moment was so genuine and true, that there wasn't much else I could say. Leigh knew it was true as well.

Many months later, Leigh and I were at the Rite Aid in Greenpoint and we crossed paths with Drew again. We were going to say hi and ask about Nina, but had a second thought and decided not to scare him. Then, as if he suddenly remembered that moment at Enid's in the same glow that we cherished it, Drew turned to us and said hello.

Not long afterward, Leigh and I got engaged in the Central Park Zoo penguin house and moved out to Los Angeles. We were trying to have our own Nina for a year already, and without much luck. In June of 2004, one year in Los Angeles, we finally got pregnant. When it came time to find out the sex of the baby, we declined. We said, we already know what it is, and her name is Nina. We were right. Nina Amelie Cairo was born on March 30th, 2005.

So that's why I wrote Drew that email in 2005. I wanted to let him know that by letting us feel the magic that was his Nina changed our lives forever.

When our daughter was born, Drew had just discovered that he had cancer, yet, he wrote back and congratulated us on our joy and sent us a couple of pictures of his Nina, so her namesake in California could know who she was named for.

So here we were tonight wondering whatever happened to Drew and Nina, and now we know. Now we finally know what a magical person we met in Drew and his Nina.

God bless all his family and friends for keeping his magic alive. I hope our Nina will meet Drew's Nina one day.