Editor’s note: As the nation marks two decades since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, all this week we look back at the events of that day and the way everyday life changed since.
(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Twin siblings born in the Chicago area on 9/11 have never shied away from their birthday and hope Americans can once again come together like they did in the aftermath of the attacks two decades ago.
Lisa Carter was a 31-year-old Aurora police officer when she had her twins, Brianna and Scott, on Sept. 11, 2001.
“The first tower had already been down, and while I was waiting to go into the surgical room to have my C-section, the second tower had gotten hit,” Carter told WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller. “And the devastation of watching that occur — seriously, to this day, it’s just difficult to even think about.”
Carter retired last year. Her ex-husband, Scott, is still with the Aurora Police.
After 9-11, she ordered birth announcements for her new son and daughter. When the vendor asked her if she wanted to change the date on the notifications, Carter held fast.
“We put on the birth announcement, ‘Two rays of sunshine on a dark day.’ And that’s true to this day. They really are good kids,” she said.
Brianna Carter, who is turning 20, appreciates her mother’s sense of hope.
“I think that also has shaped me, too, because she didn’t want to change it,” said Brianna, who is studying physical education at Waubonsee Community College.
Her brother, Scott, is studying music education at Ball State University in Muncie.
He expressed a certain wistfulness for a time he doesn’t remember, when the nation united for a time.
“Twenty years ago, there were people picking each other up from rubble. Complete strangers, putting their lives at risk for one another,” Scott Carter said. “And here we are 20 years later. We need some of that back.”
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