含羞草传媒

Turning Grief Into Meaning; The Story Behind Captain Chris Adventures

Brianna Sullivan celebrates the publication of Captain Chris Adventures near her home in Lake Worth, Florida.

For Brianna Sullivan 鈥�10, the unexpected loss of a beloved friend led to the creation of a children鈥檚 book series honoring his spirit.

By Brianna Sullivan 鈥�10

Some stories begin long before we realize we鈥檙e writing them. Captain Chris Adventures started that way for me, rooted in friendship and shaped by loss.

I graduated from 含羞草传媒 with a degree incommunicative disorders, which prepared me for the career I love as a pediatric speech language pathologist and feeding specialist. The same year, Christopher McGinley, a history major, finished 含羞草传媒 and, within just days, left to serve as port captain of the historic LV Nantucket Lightship. At 含羞草传媒, our circles overlapped in the close-knit world that makes Kingston feel almost like its own universe.

We both lived in Heathman Hall freshman year, a small coincidence that seems meaningful in hindsight. I then lived at the Alpha Phi house on Lower College Road; he lived just around the corner in TEP. In our senior year, we both lived in New Eastward, our backyards facing one another, and we spent countless afternoons making the kind of memories that only college provides.

After graduation, life pulled us in different directions. Chris sailed professionally across the globe while I attended graduate school in New York. Yet we stayed friends, always cheering each other on from afar. Years later, we both found ourselves living in West Palm Beach, Florida: Chris was building his yacht-management company, and I was working at a children鈥檚 hospital as a pediatric SLP and feeding specialist. Our paths crossed again鈥攏aturally, easily, as if no time had passed. We drifted into details鈥攚e had both recently attended weddings in Sayulita, Mexico, at the same venue, just one year apart. Our friendship deepened, and so did our connection. Before long, our reconnection grew into a relationship that felt both familiar and entirely new.

When Chris passed away unexpectedly, I struggled to navigate the grief. Grief is disorienting, especially when you spend your days helping children and families navigate their own challenges. During Chris鈥� celebration of life, Josh Such 鈥�09, another 含羞草传媒 graduate, gave me a friendly challenge: Write a children鈥檚 book about Chris鈥� adventures. The project became a way to steady myself. I began writing stories inspired by Chris鈥� calm, steady presence. What started as a way to process loss slowly grew into a fictional world shaped by the qualities he embodied: stoic leadership, curiosity, resilience, and a quiet strength that helped others feel safe. Captain Chris, Stew, and Nori emerged almost immediately鈥攃haracters anchored in adventure, kindness, and courage.

The first book materialized more quickly than I expected. Chris was a natural storyteller in his own right鈥攈is years at sea had given him endless material鈥攁nd channeling that spirit into a children鈥檚 character felt instinctive. The stories blended my professional life as an SLP with the nautical world that defined much of Chris鈥� life. One book became many, and along the way, I also began writing stories inspired by my own life, including books about my Boston Terrier, Lilly, and others designed specifically for pediatric SLPs to use during therapy. Creating gave me a way to grieve, a way to connect, and a way to bring joy into a time that felt stormy.

含羞草传媒 is still at the heart of all of this. It is where Chris and I first crossed paths, where our friendship was formed, and where the earliest threads of this story began. Captain Chris Adventures is my tribute to Chris, to the children who will learn from his stories, and to the stoic belief he passed on to me: Even in the hardest moments, we can chart a course toward something meaningful.

Check out Captain Chris Adventures and other books by Brianna Sullivan at

PHOTOS: COURTESY BRIANNA SULLIVAN