Like so many others, my memories of 9/11/2001 will remain as vivid as that day for the rest of my life. In the intervening years I have graduated (and 'graduated') from 4 schools, I have celebrated 4 milestone birthdays, I have lost all of my remaining grandparents, and find myself struggling to figure out how to live as an adult.

There has been so much life packed into these 15 years. Yet, when this day comes around every year it feels as though no time has passed. I am still 9 years old sitting on my best friend's couch, watching the Twin Towers fall over and over again on the tv.

That fear and horror will never go away completely, I have learned to accept that. But the bravery and kindness that we witnessed that day, and in the days and weeks and years that followed, has made it easier to calm that fear the other 364 days of the year.

God bless the families that lost loved ones. God bless the first responders who ran towards the fire. God bless those who protect us and our freedoms every day. And God bless and keep the men and women we lost that day.