Lulu & Leo Fund
3 hours ago
This letter was read last night at an event for "In Pursuit of Magic" benefiting the Lulu & Leo Fund.
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My Pursuit of Magic
by Marina Krim
I began my own Pursuit of Magic a few months before I first saw Betty Kay and Chloe's magical message sprayed on an otherwise dull sidewalk in Chelsea.
My name is Marina Krim and my story has been on too many front pages of newspapers and websites around the world. 5 months ago, on an ordinary October day in NYC, I lost two of my best friends, my 6 year old daughter Lulu and 2 year old son Leo. Nessie, our middle child, just 3 years old at the time, became an only child. My entire existence was shattered. My simple, charming old life, from the moment I woke up til the moment I went to sleep, revolved around my kids and I was extremely proud of that.
I am not a religious person, so gaining understanding of this through religion was not going to help me. I am a creative person however and that has always been my favorite part of who I am. So, soon after my life changed forever, I remembered the magic of creativity.
I accepted that Lulu and Leo's physical presences were no longer with me and I needed to learn to connect with their spiritual presence. I needed to use my 5 senses "outside the box" to connect with Lulu and Leo. Once I started to do that, little everyday things began to take on new meaning. This was the beginning of my lifelong scavenger hunt — clues that my Lulu and Leo were leaving me to find.
It was on my scavenger hunt when I stumbled upon Betty Kay and Chloe's inspiring message. We had returned to NYC and were back just a few days and, when I saw it, I knew that it was NYC welcoming me home. I knew that I was on the right path, being back in this city that I had left just 2 months earlier with a broken heart and little hope about the future. Their message was almost like the theme of my scavenger hunt. I posted it to the Lulu & Leo Fund Facebook page and learned that there were a lot of people who were In Pursuit of Magic too.
A month later, I met up with Betty Kay and Chloe. Our first meeting, we laughed and cried and chatted like old friends. I told them of a story that my sister-in-law had shared with me, about her friend Sam encountering magic. Here's what Sam posted to her Facebook page --
"I was walking my dog down my block (4th street in the East Village) & trust me, not paying attention to anything besides my text messages, when a reflection on the ground caught my eye. I did a double take & there on the pavement, inches away from speeding taxis, was Lulu & Leo. I instantly recognized the same sign Marina and Kevin had shared on their Facebook page. I think about your family every day, but I never expected to receive such a beautiful sign myself. I took a picture for you, walked away but then walked back, realizing that I wasn't exactly sure what I had seen. When I got there, I saw that it wasn't the spray painted words, it was the entire metal stencil instead. I picked it up, brought it home & think Lulu and Leo would love that their sign is proudly displayed in a window in the cool, fun, artistic East Village."
Betty Kay and Chloe immediately burst into tears upon hearing this story. They remembered that very stencil they had forgotten. It was the real, copper stencil, only 100 of them made; these stencils are their babies and they had never forgotten one before. When they lost it, they said to each other that the stencil was going to find the person who needed it. So, sure enough, of all the people in New York City, the stencil found my sister-in-law's friend, who was on her own pursuit of magic, and ultimately found its way back to us.
After our first meeting, I knew that Lulu and Leo had connected me to these creative, spiritual women for a reason. My two angels knew that their vision, their creativity, their inner beauty and their art would bring me happiness and help guide me to the light again. They were right. In my pursuit of magic, my mind is open and free. The magic could be a look that Nessie gives me or an encounter with an old acquaintance that sparks a memory or a lone dandelion waiting to grant me a wish. Sometimes, the magic isn't right in front of me, it may be disguised. It's always there though - I just need an open mind and heart to discover it.
Betty Kay, Chloe and I have similar messages. As a mom, I've always embraced my kids magical view of the world. Kids live in the present and we should too. My most magical moments with Lulu and Leo almost never involved material items. It was the look of pride that I would see on Lulu's face when I'd pick her up from art class. It was watching Leo's deep brown curious eyes track a caterpillar crawling in the grass. My most important challenge is to remember to live and see the magic in the present everyday.
Thank you, Lulu and Leo, for your magic.
Thank you, Betty Kay and Chloe, for yours.
And to my Nessie, thank you for giving me the strength to pursue all this magic that you and the world has to offer.
