Bravely, Faithfully, Perhaps Successfully

Four hours until my first-ever attempt at using Kickstarter as a fundraising platform is officially considered a success -- wait, a HUGE success. I thought it would be a miracle if I reached my $5,000 goal, which to me (and most people) is an insanely large sum of money. Knowing how broke I am, was, have been, will be, I thought it was too much to hope for, to ask people to put money aside for something like this. I thought most people would only be able to donate $1 - $20. I laughed to myself when I made the $100, $250, and $500 reward packages, thinking that if even one single person claimed one of these rewards, I would be dumbfounded.

Well, dumbfounded doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now. Over 100 people have not only helped me hit my mark on Kickstarter, but have pushed it $1,000 over, and more. Over 100 people put money aside from their paychecks, cut into their budgets, took the time to create profiles, and committed to making the second Gardening, Not Architecture album a guaranteed reality.

So to everyone on THIS PAGE: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gna/send-gardening-not-architecture-to-record-her-seco/backers,

THANK YOU. This album is for you, and I can't wait to make it, and I hope you love it and play it for your children someday and tell them, "I made this album happen!"

But it's not just the money, and it's not even just this particular fundraiser. It's bigger than that! (It always is!) This attempt to raise funds for a second album is yet another humbling reminder to me that there are so many real people who are really involved in Gardening, Not Architecture. People who have believed in this project since I first started recording the songs, people who have come to the shows, and worn the shirts, and played the music for their friends. Real people who have let me sleep on their real couches, have cooked me real food, have sent real donations again and again from around the world to keep me afloat on the road. Real people who have "liked" the G,NA Facebook page, who "follow" G,NA on Twitter, who send me real heartfelt messages, who really listen to the music, still, two years after the first album came out -- four years after the first EP came out! There are so many real people who have encouraged me to keep G,NA moving forward, who can see enough value in what I'm trying to do that they don't tell me to quit, or try to get me to change direction, or try to convince me to get a real job, live a normal life, give up this crazy adventure. It's so real, and that is the craziest and most inspiring thing in all of this.

I feel like I have hundreds of relatives constantly pushing me to create and produce new music and ideas, moms and dads and aunts and uncles and cousins and sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews all over the country and the world, who have my back and want me to be happy, who love me unconditionally and care about my well-being. These are people I have gotten to know, whom I look forward to visiting on the road, like miniature family reunions in every town. These are people who have let me into their lives, who have made me a part of their stories, who keep me updated on what they are doing. These are people who check in with me on a regular basis, who are happy when I come to town, and who share their lives with me. If that isn't a family, I don't know what is.

So, thank you for being my family. It's all of you that I think of whenever I start to feel lost, and it's all of you that keep me focused. I can say the sentence "I couldn't do this without you" and know that it has a tangible meaning. It's not just some line that I throw around to evoke unfounded emotions in people who I am trying to sell something to. The truth of that statement resonates in my daily life. When I say "thank you for your support" -- I know what that means, in the metaphysical sense, in a deeper way than those over-used words could ever express.

I am going to keep doing this for as long as there are people who want to see it continue. Thank you for being one of those people.

Fortiter fideliter forsan feliciter,
Sarah

gardeningnotarchitecture.com