With 25 years passing since the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, people around the world have all experienced a quarter century of life since.

But very few have a clearer marker for that quarter century than Carter Stanton, a 25-year-old who was born in the evening of 9/11.

The Butler native, the associate athletic director for creative strategy at Southern Methodist University, said he and his family have always tried to view his birthday as proof of good things happening at the same time as bad ones.

“My parents always tried to frame it as a blessing. I think it’s such a cool picture with our faith background, and just life in general, to remember that amid bad things in the world, there’s glimpses of hope,” Stanton said about his birthday.

Melissa Stanton, a former Butler resident who has since moved to Florida, said she and her husband, Shawn Stanton, had been married for several years but were struggling with infertility and even experienced a miscarriage. They began to consider adoption when, by surprise, she noticed she was experiencing pregnancy symptoms.

She said because there was no specific date of conception, she went to Butler Memorial Hospital the evening of Sept. 10 to be induced.

“I even said to myself that 9/11/01 kind of had a nice ring to it,” she said.

Around 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, she began to feel heavy contractions. Not too long after, she began to overhear people talking about a plane striking one of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. Then, her husband mentioned a second plane.

“All I remember is leaning up from the bed and seeing footage of the plane flying into the tower on the TV. I was in such shock, but (Shawn) turned off the TV,” Melissa recalled.

She said despite some complications leading to a cesarean section, Carter was born at 9:17 p.m. Sept. 11, 2001. She said she didn’t get to see him until nearly 11 p.m. By then the staff had realized the enormity of the day’s events.

“(Shawn) was keeping a lot of information from me. At some point, he said the World Trade Center was gone. I asked him ‘what do you mean it’s gone?’ and he explained the planes had caused it to collapse,” she recalled.

She said even 25 years later, the emotional juxtaposition of the day still weighs on her.

“It was so hard to wrap my head around it. We had just waited 10 years for this blessing, and then this happened the same day. God had done something amazing for us, but it’s still so hard and emotional to think about for me,” she recalled while choking up.

For the next two weeks, Melissa said her husband did his best to keep them away from the news and focused on Carter. Eventually, Shawn showed her a VHS recording of a special news report that interrupted one of their favorite shows.

“It took me so long to really grasp what had happened that day,” she said.

She said from very early on, Carter had an idea that something had happened on the day of his birth, but didn’t fully realize its significance until he was in kindergarten.

“He came home and told me he went to the school library and saw a book with a picture of an airplane flying into a building with his birthday across it,” she said. “He asked me what it was, and he was serious about it.”

She recounted the story the best she could at a level appropriate for the 6-year-old boy.

“I remember he cried and asked me why someone would do that. I told him God always has a plan.”

Melissa said her son always had an interest in sports and began getting into photography and social media management in middle school. In 10th grade, she said Carter was approached by Oklahoma State University to finish high school early and join its sports media program.

“He loves it and thrives in it. It’s amazing what his eyes see and how he can just edit on the fly,” she said.

She said he worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates as the youngest social media coordinator in professional sports history for a while before landing the job with SMU.

“Both me and my brother Clark are sports fanatics and we both always wanted to work in sports. This is the dream, and my job is my dream job,” he said.

Carter and Melissa also highlighted his work in the Uncommon Sports Group, a faith-based nonprofit dedicated to sports professionals. With the group, he took a mission trip to Kenya.

“Uncommon Sports Group changed my life. It’s a group for people who want to follow Christ while working in the sports industry. I’m involved in a few Bible studies with them,” he said.

He also got involved in shooting the World Marathon Challenge, which took him across all seven continents in seven days to photograph seven marathons.

“I had a friend who was doing freelance work, and he recommended I come along. The timing worked out to where I could take off my job and do it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and gave me the opportunity to capture high-level athletes while seeing the world,” he said.

Melissa said she and her family always make sure to celebrate Patriot Day to recognize the tragedy and remember the victims.

But, when she mentions her son’s birthday to others, she tells them not to be sad.

“Carter’s had such huge blessings in his life,” she said.