Brothers Rewrite 'A Thousand Miles' As Tribute To Mom Nicole Miller (VIDEO)

Oh, what this mother missed seeing.

Nicole Miller was 34 years old when she died in 2004. The Ford Explorer she was riding in blew a tire and rolled, her sons tell us in a beautiful, heartbreaking video, a rewrite of Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” that is becoming a viral testament to children’s grief.

Ryan and Gregory Miller made the video to share their belief that first generation Ford Explorers are dangerous and should be pulled from the road. (Marcey Evans, a Ford spokesperson said the company was "familiar with this tragic accident and our sympathy goes out to the family involved" adding, "we believe it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time as the family has brought a lawsuit against Ford, which is coming up for trial later this year.")

But the brothers send another message too. That their mother -- shown in home video clips looking vibrant and utterly entranced with her children -- would never see how talented her boys are growing up to be.

Together they rewrote the lyrics. They they sing and play the piano, utterly beautifully. It is a multilayered tribute to their Mom. Watch it. With Kleenex.

Comments

[alagirl1961]

05:27 PM on 02/05/2012

This was so very touching! The 2 boys are blessed with a talent that goes beyond description, and I know their Mom must be watching down on them now. I would like to see captioning (the words of their song) added to this video, because the audio on my system is not very good so I couldn't understand the words. That would, for me, have made it even better. Love & prayers to this family...

[Christine OMeally]

03:34 PM on 02/05/2012

My only complaint with this video is the fact that it's autotuned.

[Jojobear]

12:54 AM on 02/05/2012

Wow, tears...yes, this is such a reminder that we can go anyday, anyway... You can see how much love she had for her boys in the small time she was with them, and is watching over them in heaven. Your song and tribute was BEAUTIFUL and I know she heard and is so proud of you.

[transe]

06:51 PM on 02/01/2012

i can't believe ford is fighting this family. it came out over ten years ago, that they had built a bad vehicle. they were fined by the federal gov't, if i remember correctly. seems to me, they owe the family something. money can't bring her back, but i can't believe they are fighting this, when they are clearly responsible.

[listgirl3]

01:30 PM on 01/30/2012

This is amazing...

[jo1953]

06:45 PM on 01/28/2012

You two boys are a mother's dream and she is smiling down from heaven at how her two boys made this precious tribute to their mom. My prayers are with you and your family and maybe something will be done with first generation explorers. Thank you and God Bless....

[suziq54321]

08:41 PM on 01/27/2012

Beautiful tribute to their Mom- she would be so proud of her precious boys.

[TAAJS]

07:31 PM on 01/27/2012

Beautiful boys....I was 7 months pregnant and decided to buy a Ford Escape....I only had the SUV...2 weeks when I took a drive across the Island with my brother....we were just 2 hours into our 12 hour trip when all of a sudden the side blew out of my tire....We were very lucky...I managed to controll her and get her to the side of the highway...I called Ford...they said it wasnt their problem.I would never buy another one....

[lbccards]

11:22 PM on 01/27/2012

Maybe part of your problem was buying a female SUV. Sounds like the other part was the tire and not the car. I am glad you both were ok.

[Snow Horton]

06:41 PM on 01/27/2012

Sweet video, but no offense, sick of women driving SUV's that they cannot handle or operate appropriately. These are vehicles made originally for hauling work equipment. They are not for soccer moms to look cool in front of other moms. I drive HUMV's here in the middle east; these are not vehicles for driving to the mall. Get yourself a sedan if you are only 5'1" and have no appropriate response reactions to things like flat tires, animals running out in the road, or sharp turns.

[ddanny1]

03:58 AM on 01/28/2012

Seriously? You have got to be writing to get a response because you are incorrect on almost everything you wrote. But I'll bite.
1. SUV'S were NOT made for hauling work equipment. They do not have the towing capacity or gross payload required. "S" stands for "Sport". Work trucks have names like "Superduty", "Mega" or "HD"?
2. According to the American Insurance Institute, women are better drivers than men. They get fewer tickets and have fewer wrecks.
3. You claim you drive a humv in the middle east. A military humv is to an SUV what a Willis Jeep is to a Grand Cherokee with one exception. The civilian Hummer, (far more refined) is a piece of crap. I know because I bought one in 2005. I returned it 5 days later and the dealer credited me the purchase price for an Escalade EXT, which I LOVE and will drive until the wheels fall off. A good friend of mine bought an H2 against my advice 2 years ago. He now knows why H2s have the highest owner dissatisfaction rating.
BTW, my 5'2" 121lb wife regularly pulls our 24' Mastercraft behind my EXT from Crestwood Ky to Rough River in Kentucky. About 35 miles of it is on country roads She leaves on Thursday evening so she's driving it at night. When she gets down there she backs is down a 220' long, 14' boat ramp in the DARK. Few guys can do that.

[Belizeguy]

08:40 AM on 01/28/2012

"but no offense"--

You meant only to offend.

[Christine OMeally]

03:33 PM on 02/05/2012

Whenever anyone says "No offense," what follows is undoubtedly intended as such. The real meaning is "I'm going to say something offensive and I don't want to hear your argument."

[escamillae1]

05:55 PM on 01/27/2012

First of all, anyone who says this was just for the lawyers doesnt know jack squat about the process. This would never be admissible in court or ever shown to any jury. Secondly, having sat in on two of the first ever Ford Explorer/firestone tire trials as a news reporter in the late 90's, I can tell you for a fact... FORD CUT CORNERS AND KNOWINGLY SOLD A DEFECTIVE VEHICLE. It came out in trial ... lots of damaging inside info came out ...everything from using less sturdy materials to save a buck or two... to claiming they didn't know of any safer way to make a car . Firestone made crappy tires too...but if you're car is safe/sturdy enough... you'll survive a rollover. plain and simple. This is a beautiful tribute and if it helps these boys cope with the loss of their mother... i am glad they made it to share their talents with the world

[mrsbwwjd]

05:44 PM on 01/27/2012

this is an amazing video these young boys made for their mom and it broke my heart BUT I will tell you from my own personal experience that we were blown off the highway by winds in excess of 75mph hit an embankment became airborne and landed on the wheels of our 2004 FORD EXPLORER we DID NOT ROLL! So to put the entire blame on the Explorer is wrong because I have had these AWESOME vehicles since 1998 and have LOVED every single one of them. My heart goes out these boys but I must defend Explorers as my husband and I came out a wreck that should have killed us!

[Herbert Wild]

11:47 AM on 01/27/2012

Come on people. The boys didn't make this video....dad and the lawyer did. It's a ploy to make you sympathetic to their viewpoint. Fact is that all SUV's have a higher center of gravity...not just the Explorer. It's no more dangerous than any other SUV. Proven in many studies by many private and government agencies. Let's go after Ford because they have deep pockets. Should have had GoodYears or any other tire instead of Firestones, they would still be here today.

[Shawn1966]

05:55 PM on 01/27/2012

WTF, they are two very talented kids. Dad might have filmed and edited the video but the kids are the stars. You are right about SUV's in general buy Ford also knew that they had a had a problem and even went so as to recommend that you under inflate your tires to reduce the risk of a roll over. The memo was sent to all the Ford dealerships & not even Ford has tried to deny this.

[Snow Horton]

06:42 PM on 01/27/2012

I agree Herbert. This is just a ploy. How come it just can't be that their mother could not handle a car she was not equipped to be driving? Going after the money because you need to blame someone is just pathetic.

[PackLeader 2]

01:53 AM on 02/01/2012

She may not have been driving.. it says, "the Ford Explorer she was riding in blew a tire and rolled."
Either way it's sad; 2 beautiful boys with talent that she will never be able to see.

[Schmice]

02:04 AM on 01/27/2012

Ford will demand that if there is a settlement that it be kept confidential and Ford not accept any blame.

[Milarias]

09:16 PM on 01/26/2012

Wow, this made me cry....beautiful boys...their mom would be so proud. I hope Ford is taking care of them.

[Brad Ruszala]

08:10 PM on 01/26/2012

If you're a parent and this doesn't tear you up...