Constable: Photographed as a child after 9/11, 22-year-old reflects on attack that has colored her life

Twenty years after Sept. 11, 2001, some memories remain crystal clear and some have become a bit foggy. Naperville native Abby Stevenson, 22, simply can look at the photograph Daily Herald photographer Brian Hill took of her in a sea of miniature flags in the wake of the attacks.

“At the time the image was taken, I believe I had crouched down to kiss the flag,” says Stevenson, who was only 2 years old when she planted a flag in the yard outside Naperville city hall in honor of the victims. “I don't remember the actual moment in time, but a copy of the photo has always been kept for me to see.”

Her parents, Becky and David Stevenson, took their family to city hall and donated money to plant a U.S. flag as part of a fundraiser for the victims of Sept. 11 at a time when Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and seemingly every other American came together in a show of national unity in the wake of the attacks.

“My parents did not know my picture was in the paper until friends of theirs shared it with them,” Stevenson says, noting that her mom stuck it away as a keepsake and brings it out from time to time.

Stevenson says some of her earliest memories are from watching the terror of that day unfold on television.

“My mom was ill, and she was in bed. My sister and I were in her room and were watching 'Clifford' on the TV when my aunt called and asked my mom if she was watching the news,” Stevensons says. “She said something along the lines of, 'You need to change the channel. A plane hit one of the twin towers in New York City.'”

They were all watching the television when the second plane hit the other tower.

“My mom was terrified because she did not want us to see what was happening, and was frantically trying to get ahold of my father, who was working in Chicago at the time. Being so little, my sister and I didn't understand completely what was going on,” Stevenson says. Her mom told her that her sister, Morgan, then 4, had questions.

“Are there people on the planes?” Morgan asked.

“Yes,” said their mom.

Kids on the plane? Yes.

“She asked my mom, 'Where are the people now?' and my mom said they were in heaven. My sister asked her how they got there, and my mom said they 'flew to heaven like butterflies.' And that was the extent of their conversation,” Stevenson remembers.

As a member of the first generation to have grown up in a post-Sept. 11 world, Stevenson is accustomed to changes previous generations found jarring. Her Texas relatives used to assemble en masse at the arrival gate in the airport when members of her family flew in for visits.

“They would meet us right off the plane. That's never been the case for me,” Stevenson says. “I can't imagine places like Disney World or the airport without such intense forms of security.”

In addition to changing some of the ways we do things, Sept. 11 altered our way of thinking.

“It feels like I've never lived in a world where there hasn't (been) this undercurrent of fear, unfortunately,” says Stevenson, whose younger brother, Aidan, 18, also grew up in that world.

But hope and positive vibes are a part of her career now, says Stevenson, a media manager for On-site Workshops, a therapeutic retreat center in rural Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee. Many of the people who come to the retreat center are survivors of trauma, including mass shootings, she says.

“I love the idea of people united,” says Stevenson, a 2017 Naperville North High School graduate, who later earned the honorific of magna cum laude with a degree in corporate communications and business administration from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. She lives in Nashville.

Her home in Naperville flies the flag every day and honors her grandfather, James E. Barto Jr., a U.S. Air Force veteran, and anyone who serves the nation.

“Remembering Flight 93, the Pentagon attack, and the attack on the twin towers breaks my heart,” Stevenson says. “I am deeply grateful for everyone who pursues the service in hopes of keeping us safe. Safety is something that can so easily be taken for granted, and 9/11 serves as a reminder of those who work so hard to ensure we can live comfortably day to day. There is also resilience and strength and beautiful things that have come from such a tragedy.”

Stevenson recently posted on social media that Daily Herald photo of her young self with the flags, along with one of her favorite quotes from the movie, “Love Actually,” which includes this mention of Sept. 11: “When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge — they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”

That's how Stevenson, who does social media planning, graphic design and video production, prefers to look at her life in a post-Sept. 11 world.

“It is terrifying to imagine that such evil exists in the world, but there is beauty in the healing and renewal that occurred after the attacks,” Stevenson says. “Many stories are stories of resilience, strength and perseverance. It is those stories that make me proud to be an American, but also inspire me to always believe in hope and unity as a nation.”