As we’ve been hearing all week, today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. There were reports about what the princes were doing to celebrate it. There were reports about what you were doing when it happened. There were reports that Camilla was debating on whether or not to attend the memorial.

And what happened today, the actual anniversary?

The memorial went on. Camilla didn’t attend. The princes were eloquent in their eulogizing of their mother. And the world went on.

So, I’ll answer the ubiquitous question: where was I the day Princess Diana died? I was in Italy. I’ll actually never forget the day, because of the most amazing joke I made on that day. My parents had gone to my aunt’s house for lunch, and as we had only just arrived the day before, I was still jetlagged. So I went over a little later on in the morning, as the lunch preparations were occurring. I hadn’t watched any tv, the news or listened to the radio, so I was surprised when the first thing my mother asks me after I got into the house was “Guess who died?” I took a quick look around the room and seeing that everyone was still present, I replied “I don’t know, the Pope?”

Silence.

Then…

My father burst out laughing so hard he nearly fell off his chair! My aunt dropped her spoon and told me I was going to hell for that one, and my mother simply smiled.

You see, this was 1997, Italy, and Pope John Paul II was a frail old man. I thought it was a legitimate guess, don’t you?

Needless to say, I was rather surprised when I heard it was Princess Diana. Being in Italy, I was in the same time zone to watch all the news reports and ceremonies. I even took a train at 5am from Perugia to get back to Milan in time to watch the funeral at 1pm. (Okay, that wasn’t the only reason I took the train. I was going out with my cousin & her friends that night, so it was a two-fer). Some friends of mine walked down to the Princess of Wales theatre here in Toronto to place some flowers there amid the growing pile.

And that’s that. On to the work day.