For Mom Who Gave Birth on 9/11, Day Is Both Tragic and Hopeful

On the 12-year anniversary of the Sept.11 terror attacks, a Southern California family is remembering those lost while celebrating the life of a little girl born amid the chaos.

Amanda Bowie was an exhausted and bewildered 16-year-old mother watching the tragedies in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., unfold on the television in her hospital room.

She, like many Americans, assumed the first plane hit the World Trade Center by accident.

“I see all this on the news and it’s just shocking, that I can’t even believe this is happening on the same day I delivered my first child,” Bowie recalled.

When she turned 9, Kyli’s mother started telling her young daughter about the significance of her birth date.

Amanda had saved news clippings and bought books about 9/11, and Kayli started to learn about it in school.

Celebrating her 12th birthday Wednesday, Kayli said she’s quick to share her birthday – perhaps as a way to remind others good things still happened that day, too.

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“I don’t know if it helps. I just like to let people know,” she said.

Now a mother of four – her youngest child is 15 months old – Amanda said she wants Americans to know that 9/11 wasn’t all about tragedy. It was also about life, and hope.

“This day means just a lot to me, because everyone's sad. I feel sad, too, because people died,” Amanda said.

“It's very bittersweet that a tragedy happened, but in my family for me it was a very blessed day.”

Mother and daughter plan to – one day – journey to New York to honor that day in 2001 that brought a nation – and their growing family – together.

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