It’s 1987, I arrive in New York with my new mom, anxious to meet my new father and any other new family members. My name is Sergio Benenson, I was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 1984, I have very vague memories of those early years. But all that didn’t matter once I arrived in New York. I had two parents that loved me, quite an extended family and everything an anything a kid could want or ask for. I grew up in East New York, and Canarsie for most of my youth, while my parents worked in the city. I was into everything, playing basketball, drawing, building with legos, building car models, airplane models, comics, action figures, cartoons, biking around the neighborhood, the average kid stuff. We moved to the city in the late 90′s, and life became incredibly interesting to say the least. I’ll save the family drama for another time.
The reason I am here and documenting these moments is because of my daughter and my wife. (Mainly my daughter, but I still love my wife very much). I didn’t know what was in store for me when my girlfriend (now my wife), told me she was pregnant. My head was spinning so fast I wasn’t sure what to make of it. At first I resisted the thought of being a father and all the responsibility that came with it. We weren’t even married. Diapers, oh hell no! Non-stop crying… no thank you. I didn’t want to deal with it, I thought in nine months my life is going to be over. It was rookie in the beginning of the pregnancy with me and my wife, we were having some issues, and she even gave me the option of being a father or not being a father. I spent some time thinking about the situation and what I had to do to become a good father and husband.
When my daughter arrived, it turned my whole world upside down, literally. I was at a lost of words in the delivery room when the midwife put her in my hands with all that goo and juice all over her, I almost dropped her I was shacking so hard. Didn’t realize how nerve recking it was going to be. After that I was counting her fingers and toes, I was making sure the nurses were checking her right and making sure she was healthy and had all her extremities. I nearly cut my wife when they asked me to cut the cord, I never felt so nervous, anxious and excited all at the same time, I’m surprised I didn’t faint or anything. I knew then things had to change.
