The Inspiration Behind Milton Makes a Move (Guest Post by Jonathan Graziano)
There have only been a handful of times in my life I've considered myself a "heavy drug user". All of these instances happened in airports, after my cold sweat panic sets in, and I find myself at a small city-themed terminal bar with a whiskey and handful of Dramamine. Sure, Dramamine isn't meth, but antihistamines are intense if you are also on antipsychotics, so I found myself time after time accepting the label. I can't help it—flying terrifies me. I have been sifting through my trust issues with loved ones for years with my therapist, how on earth am I supposed to trust a group of faceless engineers and a probably drunk pilot? Pilots are usually drunk. I have no evidence to support this claim—on the contrary, there are multiple failsafes proving the opposite to be true, but since when have fears needed to be rational? He's (I gendered the pilot in my mind and instead of revising, lay myself bare before you all now) drunk and so am I. And we're both on a plane and it's a terrible idea.
I decided to write my new book, Milton Makes a Move, based on an interaction I had with my good friend Cailin in Terminal 5 of JFK while waiting to board our flight to Los Angeles. You see, there are a lot of people I love in Los Angeles. I find my relationships with these people grow when I visit, so the incentive to do so is plain to see despite my crippling fear. While in line to board, after housing my Dramamine and Jack (the bartender wouldn't make me one, I had to do it myself), I started to feel nauseous. Then my breathing began to increase. Then the spinning started. I looked at Cailin and told her I wasn't sure how I was going to get on this plane. I was so scared of all the things that could happen because of my surely drunk pilot and the obviously clueless engineers I couldn't see a world where I boarded and sat down. Cailin looked at me with a look of sympathy and a bit of confusion. I didn't like the confusion. It made me feel like there was a chance I was being irrational. She very simply said to me "Jonathan you can absolutely leave if you have to. But what if you were brave and just did it anyway?" For some reason, at the ripe old age of 34 years, I finally learned what bravery was. It was being scared and doing the thing anyway.
Cut to my newly adopted geriatric Pug, Milton, who was rescued from a hoarding house halfway across the world and flown 17 hours to JFK in a very small crate (it was appropriately sized). After the few days of having him in my home and watching him go from a scared, anxious Pug into a happy lump who just wanted to snooze, it dawned on me just how brave this little guy had to be in order to undertake all the change he dealt with over the previous few months on his life. More brave than maybe I could be, perhaps. To my knowledge he was sober the entire flight! I could never.
Cailin's advice and Milton's hardened spirit both inspired me to tell this story, and it is my sincere hope that a parent reading this to their child will take as much away from it as their kid does. I remember how scary being a kid was a times. Moving to a new house. Starting at a new school. Meeting new people at camp. I don't think we give enough credit to how brave everyone has to be every single day to navigate so much is thrown at us on a daily basis, and this story hopefully helps to illustrate just how big of a deal being brave can be.
Jonathan Graziano is a Rochester native who currently resides in New York City. His eternal muse, Noodle, continues to inspire him each and every day. It is Jonathan’s hope that through this story he can continue Noodle’s legacy of spreading joy and kindness and encourage others to adopt and/or rescue a senior pet next time they're looking to add a new member to their family. You can find Jonathan on TikTok at @JonGraz.
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