9/11 Victim's Sister: We Never Got to Say Goodbye [VIDEO]

There's a huge difference between seeing a list of names of those who died on 9/11 and hearing each name read aloud while standing at Ground Zero, Montville Township High School graduate Laura Kingsbury said.

With a list, you can turn the page.

But to actually hear almost 3,000 names being read, the time alone it takes to read the names—about two hours—is immense, said Kingsbury, who now lives in Denville.

This year, for the first time, she plans to have her oldest son, David, experience what it's like to hear the names. She said she is taking him to the ceremony at Ground Zero for the first time because she feels he is old enough to take something away from it.

It has always been important to Kingsbury to commemorate the lives of those who died on 9/11, particularly the life of her brother, Paul Skrzypek, her only sibling. Skrzypek, a lacrosse player and marathon runner, graduated from Montville Township High School in 1982. He was 37 and started working for Cantor Fitzgerald six weeks before the attack. A lacrosse tournament held in Montville in his memory raises money for a scholarship fund in his name.

Kingsbury said her brother enjoyed goofing off with her two oldest children, David and Thomas. After 9/11, Kingsbury had a third child and named him Paul after her brother.

Kingsbury said she felt David, who is old enough to remember his uncle and turns 16 in September, is old enough to appreciate the ceremony this year.

"I wanted to wait until I thought he was of the age it would make him think about it and maybe get some perspective," she said. "For me, it’s more introspective and reflective. This was his uncle. This was his mother’s brother."

Kingsbury said certain, expected things trigger memories of her brother, such as attending a Yankees game because her brother was a big fan of the team. Or, going to the city, or looking across the skyline.

But more often, something unexpected triggers thoughts of her brother.

"He was my brother, so something will just pop into my head that brings up a certain memory of him. A certain conversation. Something that we joked about," she said.