She didn’ t realize until he died in 2021 that the most important gift he ever gave her was the stubbornness to prioritize creativity over materialism. After his death, changes happened fast. The couple— hovering barely on either side of their 40 th birthdays— quit the corporate world, sold their Tennessee home, and moved with their three young children into Gracie’ s mother’ s Bloomington basement. Determination to do life a new way was their fuel. Having met years before in the natural foods industry, Adam and Gracie sought to pursue their passion for helping others live healthier lives.
The idea of creating beeswax candles came by accident, while Gracie searched for candles to burn with their Yule log in 2021. Frustrated by not finding affordable products whose suppliers were transparent about their production and ingredients, Gracie took the beeswax into her own hands. Literally.“ Beeswax is an absolute mess,” she said, shaking her head, laughing.“ It’ s very challenging and finicky. It has to be at just the right temperature, in just the right environment, poured at just the right ratio. I tried it a few months and knew it was not for me.
“ But Adam? He tried it the first time, and it worked great.”
A little voice in the back of Gracie’ s head nagged her about how much she’ d loved watching the potter next door to her father’ s leather shop when she was a little girl. She said watching him throw pots was“ pure magic.” In fact, Gracie took a pottery class when she was 25 and loved that, too.
So, while her husband began spending late nights reading candle forums in bed, Gracie soon could be found over in the corner, throwing pots on her wheel, or testing glazes on votive plates. Many of her father’ s old leather-working tools found their second career in Gracie’ s hands, giving her ceramics a unique twist.
After a lot of trial and error, she eventually signed up to try selling her ceramics in a craft market.
“ I was so nervous in the days leading up to it, I really didn’ t think I could go,” Gracie said, laughing.“ I kept telling Adam,‘ I can’ t do it. You go!’” She went. Customers loved her work. Rivers and Roads opened online through Etsy < RiversAndRoadsLLC. etsy. com > in January 2022.
Continued on 27 photo by Cindy Steele
Jan./ Feb. 2024 • Our Brown County 23