By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

I am writing this from the intersection of Scudder and Marchant here in Hyannis Port, Mass.  The wind is out of the West at 20 knots, and there are white caps on Nantucket Sound.  Ted Kennedy's sail boat is sitting at its mooring offshore.

I first visited this small strip of pavement when I was 8 years old, and returned with a buddy of mine in high school.  I'd grown up on the black and white images -- those famous Life magazine photos -- of the Kennedy family, wealthy and prominent beyond my ability to imagine it, and their casual, elegant lifestyle along the New England coast here on Cape Cod.  I remember noticing little things: they wore the collars on their polo shirts turned up...Bobby stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sport coat, as did Jack.  Their father Joe wore big, round horn-rimmed glasses.  They all had so much hair and such prominent teeth.  I had never seen anything like this family, and I was fascinated by it all, as a kid reading about it from afar.  I am back today for the death of the patriarch of the modern Kennedy family.

We are doing an hour-long special edition of the broadcast tonight, which most of you will see, depending on the city you're in and the NBC Station you watch. Either way, it will be available for viewing here.  We hope you can join us.