'Someone noticed how eerily quiet it was'

By Michelle Holdway

Daily Herald news editor

I work second shifts on the copy desk, so I was in bed when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. My boss Teresa's call to ask me to come in early roused me from a deep sleep.

I turned on the TV in time to see the towers collapse. By then, officials were calling the situation a terrorist attack. Before heading to work, I went to Jewel. My thinking was, "I'm going to need food and I'm going to need cash, in case the power grid goes down."

I also called my dad at his law office to let him know I'd be at the newspaper for the foreseeable future and that he and Mom shouldn't worry if they couldn't reach me.

Most of that extended work day was a blur. Initially I was assigned to a team that would assemble an "extra" afternoon edition, but that didn't come to fruition.

The next night at work - Sept. 12 - is much more vivid in my memory. As part of my duties, I designed the photo page depicting memorials around the world and wrote a short copy block to go with it.

After the last deadline, most of us on the copy desk went to the Rand Roadhouse near Des Plaines to decompress. We were sitting in the beer garden when someone noticed how eerily quiet it was. There wasn't a bit of noise from nearby O'Hare, because all the flights in the country had been grounded.

That's when the enormity of the moment finally set in: The world had changed forever.

• Michelle Holdway is Daily Herald news editor