Right before Thanksgiving, Gracie was lamenting that she’d never seen a movie in the movie theater. I had never taken her because it’s dark and loud and requires sitting still for two hours—any one of those things is usually too much for Gracie. She begged and pleaded, promising she wouldn’t be scared and would be able to sit there for the whole two hours.

I of course relented, being the permissive parent that I am. Gracie decided she wanted to see “Trolls.” She had been watching a music video on YouTube of one of the songs, “Get Back Up Again,” and knew most of the words by heart. So, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Grace and Jackson and I trekked to our local movie theater to see this movie Gracie had been watching about on YouTube Kids.

It turned out to be a great movie—very cute and with a great message. Princess Poppy troll   embarks on a journey with survivalist troll Branch to save their friends from being eaten by the bergens, a miserable group of beings whose only taste of happiness comes from ingesting the vibrant trolls. It’s a kids’ movie, so of course it has a happy ending. It also has a lot of great music, from Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” to Justin Timberlake’s upbeat “Can’t Stop the Feeling” to Earth Wind & Fire’s “September.” But a highlight of the movie is the catchy tune that Gracie already knew, “Get Back Up Again.”

Gracie sang that song around our house for days before and after the movie. She would belt it in her best breath-support voice, doing arm movements for certain parts and grooving through others. I thought she only liked it because it was a fun and theatrical song to sing. I was wrong.

A few days after the movie, Gracie was wandering around the house singing her favorite song when suddenly she stopped. “Daddy, do you know why I love that song?” she asked Chad. “Because it has a really good message. It’s all about not giving up.”

Wow.

We were in awe. Once again, Gracie amazed us. She understood the deeper message of the upbeat tune. Our impish little child with the angelic blonde curls and the missing teeth once again taught us a lesson about strength in the face of adversity. The child who I was worried would be afraid in the dark theater was simply awaiting her opportunity to hear HER song, the song that could have been written about her life. (We coached her ahead of time about being quiet in the theater; she still sang along with the song, just not at the top of her lungs like she does around the house.)

Gracie is the queen of not giving up. She doesn’t think twice about it—if she wants something, she gets it. Self-sufficiency is second nature to her. This is the kid who shouldn’t be able to walk, but figured it out anyway. The kid who got her own pacifier even without the use of her hands. The kid who, when she broke her right hand this summer and lost the use of her fingers while they were casted, learned how to write with her left hand. The kid who falls and falls and falls and falls and falls, but never cries—she just gets back up again.

We could all learn a lesson from Gracie. Except, that kind of strength through adversity cannot be taught. It can be learned, but it comes from within. Gracie is just a little kid, but she already knows what it takes a lifetime for some of us to learn. She has always known. She is grace personified, amazing grace.

And when they knock, knock her over, she will get back up agaaaiin.