It is a sad day. I was out of the country and neighbors banged on our door yelling CNN! CNN! My trip home was postponed for a week and the Italian people were wonderful. I attended several masses with Consulate staff and held hands with over five hundred people in Piazza Signoria while a bell slowly tolled.
Now the Consulate does not allow guests, the street is closed and guarded with soldiers with sub-machine guns. And my father lives next door so I have to walk by those taciturn soldiers whenever I visit.
When I got back to the States the Customs Agent questioned me and all I did was well up in tears and say it was so good to be home. He nearly immediately welcomed me home and I was so happy, as the Consulate told me, not to be in Newfoundland in summer dresses.
Two weeks later I met my husband. We’ve been together for nearly twelve years. He tells people I picked him up in a bar. Lunch, TGI Fridays and everyone was talking about 9/11 and what it meant about our future. We’re still at war, why?
My brother had a meeting at WTC early that morning and they didn’t show up. He called them then left, then BOOM. He’s OK. But many died and they and their families should know that the dead are mourned. The event is in our minds forever. Schools are teaching it like my dear English teacher Aunt did the holocaust. Remember.
This must never happen again. In Memoriam, Dee
Cooking with Dee 
To his credit, the Customs Agent quickly said “Welcome Home.” So I didn’t have to kiss the marble floor.