09/11/2026
Twenty-five years later, 9/11 still stops me in my tracks. I think of the lives lost, the first responders and survivors who carried the cost long after, and the service members whose lives were forever changed by what followed.
I was in Canberra, Australia, just months from graduating from the Australian Defence Force Academy. When the ANZUS Treaty was activated, everything shifted. Less than two years later, I deployed to the Middle East alongside our allies.
My husband Levi would go on to spend more than two years in Iraq across three U.S. Army deployments, flying Black Hawk missions. Like so many military families, we built our life around service, separation, and quiet worry.
Today, I remember the lives stolen, the families forever changed, and all who answered the call. We remember. We honor. We will never forget.
