I did not want to write about it in real time. Twitter and Facebook seemed irrelevant. It was just too real.

One thing I know you don't get a good feeling watching people run at an airport, especially men in uniform running to your gate. Or in this case, the gate next to yours.

But that's what we were watching as we were getting ready to board our Christmas Day flight from Los Angeles to New York City. At first. it was just a couple of airport police, then a couple more, then 4 EMT personnel, then 4 more fireman with a gurney. I chose not want to watch, but our daughter, Zoe, who is a fan of numerous medical TV shows such as House and Scrubs, seemed to have more of a stomach for it. At first, all she could tell was that a man had collapsed.

In the Virign Terminal, once you pass security you walk through a series of clear glass walls to get to the plane, so unfortunately this was taking place in plain sight of everyone. Death doesn't care about privacy. It didn't seem that bad until I saw my daughter's face go white, and her mouth drop open, and I hear her say "They're performing CPR." And she stayed that way for the next few minutes as the CPR continued and the Virgin employees tried to clear a path through the waiting travelers for the gurney to come through. Then a rush of people moving quickly. And all i remember was an arm, but it wasn't the right color, listlessly hanging from the side of the gurney. And the EMT responder continuing to do CPR with a sort of helpless look on his face. And then they were gone.

And order resumed at the gate, with passengers lining up ...first Group A, then B, and we were C...to board the plane and continue with our flight, our vacation, our lives.

Haunting. Heather
whitelaird@yahoo.com
twitter.com/howlvenice
http://howlvenice.com/