Pouring whiskey in the wound – eating and drinking after 9/11
September 11th, 2012
11:00 AM ET
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Editor's note: This post originally ran on May 2, 2011. See more 9/11 coverage on CNN

I poured myself a bourbon last night. Got into the good stuff, even – a 15-year-old Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve I'd been doling out in small drams for the past few years. After slogging through the flood of Osama bin Laden news from television and Twitter and shouts from the street, it seemed right to stop and mark the moment.

There are many ways to acknowledge a momentous occasion, and some have the benefit of ritual. Weddings have a Champagne toast, birthdays a cake, funerals have casseroles borne by well-meaning neighbors who may not have sufficient words, but can offer comfort by way of a turkey tettrazini.

Back on that sunny September Tuesday nearly ten years ago, so many New Yorkers were simply unmoored. There is no protocol for how to behave on a day when you're simply trying to go about the business of getting coffee, shoehorning yourself into a subway car and heading to work and a madman sends your city crashing to the ground. In the hours that followed, in addition to the stunningly grim task of ascertaining if our loved ones were alive, simply getting back to the safety of home (assuming it was still safely habitable) became achingly difficult.

Read - Pouring whiskey in the wound – eating and drinking after 9/11

Previously - Filling the void – eating after a funeral and Serving up gratitude in troubled times



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  8. Gail D

    I live near an airport. So, after 9-11, I climbed on top of my garage and nailed a 9 foot American flag to the roof, so maybe the travelers in the taking off, after the 3 days of No Fly across the country could take comfort and hope in the strength of our country. (I also put an American Flag in the rear window of my car, as did many)

    September 13, 2012 at 6:16 am | Reply

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