"These Miles" --- One Person's Dream A Reality

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

    - Walt Disney

There is something to say about a person who goes after their dreams. Even if they fail they at least tried. My dream to return to New York was realized after a long journey. I still have dreams I’m chasing and I have friends that are, right now, taking steps to make their dreams come true.

I am always happy when someone achieves a lifelong dream --- no matter how big or small. This isn’t about me though. It’s about the person who has inspired this blog post. Jonathan Estabrooks. I haven’t met (yet) this Canadian with the spirited messages and voice smooth as gold. However, when I learned about his Kickstarter campaign to help fund his album I ... and many, many others ... jumped at the chance to help make his dream a reality. Jonathan was kind enough to update us on his exciting journey as he put together the pieces to create his album, “These Miles.”  

In my opinion, it’s the perfect album. I mean who doesn’t like a little opera, a little musical theatre and some great tunes like “She” and “Fly Away.” To say I’ve been obsessed with the album would be an understatement. It de-stresses me at work and has lifted my spirits in the wake of the recent passing of my grandmother. “These Miles” just makes me happy. (Insert Pharrell Williams singing “Happy” here)

I could not be prouder of Jonathan. You can tell he put a lot of effort, thought and detail into each track. His album is proof that dreams do come true. They come true every day ... all over the world. It could be a little dream or a big dream. It doesn’t matter. Sometimes you can achieve your dream alone. Somtimes you need some help to achieve that dream. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. Yoko Ono once said, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” So to all you dreamers out there ... you can do it. 

**** “These Miles” drops April 8th and can be pre-ordered on Amazon and iTunes. However, I was super excited when my copy arrived in the mail last week.  Below is a YouTube link that gives you a little more insight and a preview of Jonathan’s album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUPJTtM_WdQ

To My Grandma

“Take a look at yourself in the mirror.

Who do you see looking back?

Is it the person you want to be?

Or is there someone else you were meant to be … the person you should have been, but fell short.

Is someone telling you can’t or you won’t. Because you can.

Believe that love is out there.

Believe that dreams come true every day. Because they do.”

 

I once heard those words being spoken. They are also some of what my grandma taught me.

She inspired me to follow my every dream.

She told me that I was a star, even when I felt I was falling from the sky.

 

Why? Because that’s what grandmas do.

 

They let you call Santa’s hotline when your parents won’t.

Grandmas love you unconditionally … even when you steal candy from the wood box in the living room, or play dress up with their clip on earrings as they’re in the tv room with grandpa.

 

Grandmas are always busy, but they stop to tell everyone about you so everyone knows your name.

 

Grandmas keep everything --- like the mug that sat in her window at work and that everyone walking by could see.

They’ll travel hundreds of miles to see you get your college diploma and see you in the California desert.

 

Grandmas leave footprints in your heart and in the sand.

My grandma did every winter she spent in Florida.

 

Even when a footprint disappears in the tide, it’s taking the sand and bringing it elsewhere. Maybe the sand mixes with a new beach or with new footprints left by new people walking along the beach.

Right now grandma is walking on a beach … drinking one of her favorite Baileys drinks … or maybe a pomegranate martini … or maybe a glass of Piesporter … leaving footprints in the sand with the family and friends she has rejoined … all whom have left footprints across our hearts.

My Beloved Grandma: Madeline Ross Schwechter

January 14, 1923-March 11, 2014