JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The date Sept. 11 changed meaning the moment terrorists attacked the U.S. on American soil in 2001. Many people who say Sept. 11 immediately go back in their mind to that day and reflect on where they were and what they remember.
Two local women have a different take on what the day means. They have birthdays that fall on that infamous date, something they say has changed their lives.
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"Sometimes I feel kind of disrespectful celebrating on that day," said Meghan Arias, who's turning 21 on the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. "People are like, 'Oh, when are you turning 21?' or whatever. You say, 'September.' You don't want to say the day, you know."
She's talking about the day the twin towers fell and Americans were jolted out of their usual morning routines to find life would never be the same.
"There's always the common response. You're like, 'Oh, Sept. 11.' They're like, 'Oh, oh that stinks.' I'm like, 'Yeah, you get used to it,'" Arias said.
But she admits there's really no "getting used to it." She realizes her special day will always be that infamous 9/11.
Sept. 11, 2001, was Arias' 11th birthday.
"On the announcements at elementary school, they tell you it's your birthday, and then they tell you to come up and get a birthday pencil," Arias said. "So I went up and got my birthday pencil, and by the time I went to sit down the news was on, and it was like -- OK, never mind."
Video:Special Section:Remembering 9/11
Arias said she couldn't know then how that moment captured on camera and seen around the world would begin to shape her future.
Since Sept. 11, some young people like Arias have learned not to take life for granted or ever forget about the reality of such a tragedy.
The images of that day affected even the nation's children.
At age 11, Arias said, the tragedy opened her eyes.
"When this took place, I saw all the news about (how) the people of Iraq and Iran were being treated, how the women were disposable and, like, didn't really have a say in what happened, such a dictatorship," Arias said. "That's when I realized how lucky I was to be born here and have a chance to make a difference. So it inspired you in a way, definitely."
Barbara Evans, a director at the Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine, also celebrates her birthday on Sept. 11. It's always been a big day for her, but since Sept. 11, it's taken on a more pensive feeling.
Evans remembers how everything changed that birthday morning in 2001.
"Friends and I had planned to go out to breakfast, and I saw the plane go through the tower, and I honestly thought, 'Is that a movie?'" she said. "I was just numb. I don't believe it. I saw it. They kept replaying it, and I kept thinking, 'That can't be. Really. This is America. That can't be.'"
As the years go by, Evans said, the affects of the terrorist attacks has changed the "storyline" of her birthdays.
"It starts off differently because that's the memory I have, of, 'This is my birthday, and this is what happened 10 years ago,'" Evans said.
But like the shows at her theatre, Evans realizes life must go on.
This year, she'll spend her birthday with her growing family. Her daughter was pregnant back then.
"They come to grandma now," Evans said. "They come to mom and grandma now."
