Don't do this. Instead, start emacs. Run M-x server-start. Now to edit a file, just say "emacsclient -t filename". You are instantly connected to your running emacs session, in the terminal you are currently working in. You can have an arbitrary number of these. C-x C-c closes the instance you are working in, not every instance.

I just run "emacs --daemon" when I log in, "emacsclient -c" to get my main emacs X frame, and then "emacsclient -t foo.bar" when I need to edit something. (Actually, I alias "emacsclient -t" to "ec", so "ec foo.bar".)

If you don't want to install Emacs for some reason, "mg" is a much better choice than vi or nano.