Grace had big, captivating eyes as a baby, the kind that made strangers stop and comment on them everywhere we went. That never really changed. People noticed Grace. Not because she was loud or trying to be the center of attention, but because she had a way about her that made people feel like they knew her, even if they had just met her.

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She was sweet and funny and incredibly witty. She was smart, but she was also sarcastic and hilarious and knew exactly how to make people laugh at just the right moment. Grace made friends everywhere she went, and somehow she was able to move between different groups of friends and make all of them feel important and included.

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She loved music and had a playlist for everything. If you knew her, you know that she probably had a playlist for this exact moment.

 

She loved thrifting and hated fast fashion because she cared so much about the environment and the world being a better place. She loved long conversations and debates and could talk for hours about big ideas, future plans, or completely random topics. She danced in the kitchen, laughed until she cried, and had a very unique sense of humor that you either immediately understood or didn’t — but if you did, you thought she was the funniest person in the world.

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Grace was as excited about being voted Best Dressed as she was about being accepted into National Honor Society, which tells you almost everything you need to know about her. She was involved in everything from student council, YETI, student leadership to drama, cheerleading and running hurdles. She loved being part of things and being around people.

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She made elaborate plans, really elaborate plans, and then sometimes got so overwhelmed by how big the plan was that she couldn’t finish it. That was Grace. Big ideas, big plans, big dreams, and sometimes not enough time.

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She procrastinated like it was her job. She loved her family, her friends and her dogs. She loved being outdoors, driving around, listening to music, and talking about where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do with her life.

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She had huge aspirations of going to a top college and working for NASA or becoming an economist, but she also had a backup plan to travel the country in a van. She kept lists of places she wanted to go, probably in a slideshow that she spent hours designing but never actually finished. She believed life was big and beautiful and that there was so much of the world she still wanted to see.

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Grace passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on October 7, 2024, at 17 years old due to an undiagnosed cardiac arrhythmia. Our lives changed forever that morning.

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In the months after she died, we kept coming back to the same thought:

Grace had so many places she still wanted to go.

 

So we found a way to make sure she still could.

 

The Gracie Goes Everywhere books are our way of letting Grace keep traveling, keep exploring, and keep having new adventures. The character Gracie isn’t exactly Grace, but she has her heart, her curiosity, her courage, her overwhelm, her big feelings, her love of music, her big plans, and her belief that life is so beautiful and the world is waiting.

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These books are about being brave when things feel scary, trying new things, handling big feelings, and learning that you can do hard things — which are all things Grace did, whether she realized it or not.

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A portion of proceeds from this book series will be donated to the SADS Foundation, an organization dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac death in children and young adults through heart screening, research, and awareness.

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This series is for Grace.
This is how we keep her going.
This is how Gracie goes everywhere.

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Life is so beautiful. And the world is waiting. Let’s go see it.