Photo by:  Thomas Franklin  for The Bergen Record 

This picture was on the front page of every paper in America on 9/13/01. I remember distinctly wanting to go out and buy one after I saw one of the news anchors hold up a copy. I picked it up around 6pm that evening & thanked God again for sparing all of those that I love from any harm that day. Less than an hour later, I found out my grandmother died. Luckily, she was in the comfort, peace and safety of her own home. 9/11 changed our world forever. Two days later, my own world changed forever. To this day I believe she spent her first days in heaven cooking her famous sauce for all the victims, especially the 343 firefighters, 60 police officers and eight paramedics. I hope they enjoyed her food & company as much as I did. That 1-2 punch of 9/11 & my grandmother’s death left me with a stronger faith than I have ever known. May we never forget the lessons that tragedy taught us, or the lives of all those who died. 

Me & my grandmother, Ida, a/k/a Idie, as I affectionately called her.  .