Over the past 25 years, I have watched New York City carry unimaginable loss while continuing to grow, rebuild, and find hope. What stays with me most is how people came together. Families, first responders, neighbors, volunteers, and strangers supported one another in extraordinary ways. In the midst of grief, there was also an incredible sense of connection and community.

As the years passed, I watched the city change. Lower Manhattan came back to life. New buildings rose, families grew, and children like mine came of age in a city forever shaped by 9/11. The 9/11 Memorial and Museum became places where remembrance, education, and hope could come together.

I find it especially meaningful that these places of remembrance now stand within a vibrant and renewed Lower Manhattan. People work, live, gather, and raise families around a site once defined by unimaginable loss. To me, that is a powerful reminder that rebuilding does not erase the past. It allows us to carry it forward with meaning.

For me, one of the greatest lessons of the past 25 years is that healing does not mean forgetting. We can honor those we lost while still allowing ourselves to experience joy, purpose, love, and new beginnings.

I have seen that same journey in many of the 9/11 families I worked with. Their grief remained part of their lives, but so did resilience, connection, and hope. Many found meaningful ways to carry their loved ones forward through service, advocacy, family, and community.

Twenty-five years later, I see New York as a city that has learned to hold remembrance and renewal at the same time. Having lived here, raised my family here, and witnessed that journey firsthand, I continue to be inspired by the strength of this city and its people.

September 11th will always be part of New York’s story. But so will the love, compassion, resilience, and hope that have carried us forward.

We remember. We honor. We carry hope forward.