9/11 feels like yesterday, but this all happened since…

Sixteen years ago feels like a long time in most respects. Yet when we think back to 9/11 most of us have such vivid memories that it's like we can close our eyes, reach out our hand, and be there as if it is still happening all around us. The day was so shocking, so surreal, that it will probably always be that way for those of us who lived through it. So much so that it's hard to believe it was sixteen years ago. To put it in perspective, here are some things that have happened since that awful day.

People born just after the event are now in high school, getting ready to drive cars and thinking about which colleges will eventually be best for them. They never lived in a world where the tragedy of 9/11 had not happened.

Our president and leader of the free world, Donald J. Trump, had not even starred on The Apprentice yet. That didn't debut until January of 2004.

The FCC crackdown hadn't happened yet. It came about largely in response to the Janet Jackson nipple exposure at the half-time show during Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1st, 2004, some two years and nearly five months after the events of 9/11. Howard Stern still had not left terrestrial radio.

Most people had no idea who Barack Obama was. He didn't even serve in the U.S. Senate until 2005.

Peyton Manning had no Super Bowl rings when the towers came down. Since it happened he's won two and retired.

Donald DiFrancesco was governor when the attacks happened. Since then we've had seven different governors. Crazy Jersey trivia: Five different governors served in a period of only eight days.

Half the Harry Potter books hadn't even been published yet.

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence would have no professional television or movie acting credits for another five years after 9/11. In fact she turned eleven years old less than a month before the attacks.

Morgan Kay Beamer turned fifteen years old this year, on January 9th. She is the daughter of Todd Beamer, who famously said, "Let's roll!" It was said in rallying fellow passengers aboard United flight 93 to try to take back one of the hijacked planes that day. She never met her dad.

Like I said, it's as vivid and close as yesterday, but it has been sixteen years. We will never forget.