A real life inspiration for the “Come From Away” musical, one couple shared how they fell in love in the midst of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Nick and Diane Marson explained in an interview with CTV News Channel Friday how their flight was diverted to the Newfoundland town of Gambo, after planes struck the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. That’s where their love story began. “For the longest time we had survivor’s guilt, we didn’t feel comfortable with what happened to us,” Nick said, saying his and Diane’s stay in Gambo “turned out to be a wonderful five days.” He said he felt for the families of the victims of the attack, but now was grateful for his how life turned out. “We would’ve never met otherwise,” Diane added. The couple was waiting in line for blankets at a shelter 40 kilometres from Gander, N.L. “And this attractive American lady was stood in line next to me,” Nick, who speaks with an English accent, said. “She turned to me and said ‘they smell like–‘,” he added, before Diane chimed in with “mothballs,” finishing his sentence. “It turned out to be quite a good pick-up line,” Nick said. The couple said they had never heard of Gander before and needed to pull out maps to locate Newfoundland when it was announced their flight was being diverted. But once they landed, they were treated with kindness. “We had no expectations, but we were met with angels, we were put down in Heaven, these angels looking after us,” Nick said. “They bed us, they gave us somewhere to sleep, they gave us a hug, they started to entertain us. “If it hadn’t been for all that, Diane and I would have never got together.” The locals even “Screeched” their visitors, a Newfoundland tradition that Diane explained makes a person an “honourary Newfoundlander.” The term “Screech” comes from Newfoundland fishers who would sail to other ports to sell their fish, loaded in barrels, then bring back rum in those same barrels, which supposedly negatively affected the taste of the rum, she said. “They were trying to lighten the mood and entertain us,” Diane said about her hosts. She also confirmed that she did kiss a cod fish, an Atlantic Canada rite of passage. It was on the school bus to the airport after their five-day stay that they decided to start living the rest of their lives together. “I actually put my arm around her to kiss her on the forehead, because that was as advanced as a British guy would dare be,” Nick said. “And I just grabbed him and kissed him on the mouth,” Diane said. “Because I knew if I didn’t, I would never see him again.” Nick called Diane’s smooch “her ace card.” He said that kiss made its way into the award-winning musical “Come From Away,” which the couple claimed to have seen more than 160 times, where a flight attendant offers an older couple a cold towel, rather than a hot towel, as they were “canoodling.” “It actually really happened,” he said. The romance continued after the couple’s flight out of Newfoundland. They used phone calls and email, until Nick proposed over the phone. “And I said yes,” Diane said, adding that a house was bought two weeks later. They got married on Sept. 7, 2002, and honeymooned in Gambo.
