......to finish my story, we got outside and saw all of the aircraft stacked up on the runways and taxiways.  See, I worked for American Airlines when this happened at one of the busiest airports in the US, DFW.  We had never seen anything like it.  Even during a storm when they let some of the planes takeoff.  But every inch of the runways were used.  And nothing was moving.  Once they had gotten everyone on the ground, it was eerily quiet.  And my friend and I suddenly thought, "should we be out here"?  I know that sounds funny, but that is how much more conscious of security we had become already.  We went back in and waited to see what should be done next (our work of course).  We did as many claims we could, because we knew that there would be lots of lost luggage and consequential expense claims coming in once this got sorted out.

Later that afternoon, we heard that we were sending a relief team and a support team on 3 757's.  They were the only aircraft allowed to takeoff that day from Dallas.  We heard the jets as they took off.  And we feared for them.  We knew they were safe, but we just feared for them. 

And the silence was crazy.  All those planes out there and nothing moving.

Later that week, we held a prayer meeting at work.  We prayed for the families, we prayed for peace, and we prayed that we could overcome our fear.  All week, people were nervous, aniexty was high, but dulled by shock.

I don't think we will ever get over that day.  Whether we lost someone, knew someone that was lost, or just lived through it.  It is as big as Pearl Harbor was in the 40's.  Kennedy's assasination in the 60's, and the Space Shuttle explosion.  We move on, but we hurt just the same.  In time, this too will not hurt as much.  I just pray it doesn't happen again.