I wrote these lyrics on April 17th, 2026, after realizing that while I had already created several wedding lyric videos, I had never really touched the mother-son dance. I have written about the father-daughter connections, and it pulled at something deep, but this… this felt different.
I wanted it to feel like something a mother would quietly carry inside her. Not polished. Not perfect. Just honest. Almost like a page from a diary.
This One Wasn’t Easy For Me to Write
As a mother of four adult sons and a step-mom of two more, I thought the words would come quickly. But they didn’t.
I sat there for a bit, unsure how to even begin, which doesn’t happen to me all that often. So I did what I always do when I can’t quite find my way in… I closed my eyes and pictured my boys.
Not just as they are now, but as they’ve been.
I let my mind go all the way back. To the moment they were first placed in my arms… to the baby years… the childhood years… the boyhood years… and then to the men they’ve become.
And somewhere in all of that, the feeling finally came through clearly.
When I look at my sons, I don’t see one version of them.
I see all of them.
I see the scraped knees. The sleepy eyes. The laughter. The learning. The growing. I see everything layered together. And even now, after all these years, there are still moments when I catch a glimpse of the baby they once were. Not constantly, but just enough to remind me that those days don’t actually leave you. Not when you’re a mother.
And that’s really what this song became about.
Because life does what it’s supposed to do. Our children grow up. They become independent. They build lives that are their own. That’s how it’s meant to be. But none of that erases what came before. It doesn’t replace it… It adds to it.
So when I think about a mother standing on that dance floor with her son on his wedding day, I don’t see her dancing with just the man in front of her.
She’s the only one in that room who’s danced with all three.
The child. The boy. And the man.
That’s something no one else shares in quite the same way. A wife may know the man. Sometimes she might know the boy if they grew up together. But the mother… she’s the one who carries all of it. Every version. Every stage.
And that’s what I wanted these lyrics to hold.
That quiet, overwhelming knowing… that when she looks at him, it’s never just who he is now. It’s who he’s always been.
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"Some people are so good at making perfect look easy…"
The Perfect Mother is a psychological domestic thriller as well as a reflection on motherhood. It is set in Brooklyn, New York, where a group of new mothers whose babies are all born in the same month become friends through a mom’s group and go on to support each other through the ups and downs of new motherhood.
These women and one 'token' man are very different individuals and come from a variety of backgrounds. However, they are united through the common experience of motherhood.
When the mothers finally allow themselves to go out for an evening and leave their babies at home, their worst nightmare comes true. A baby is kidnapped.
A few members of the group become obsessed with helping recover the baby and their informal investigation unearths secrets from the past that will test marriages and friendships.
Author Aimee Molloy told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that she came up with the idea of the book when her own children were less than five years old. She was still very aware of “the pressures women face and the choices they have to make, particularly when they’re raising a child in a city with no family around to help.”
Here is the short book trailer, which does not really tell much about the book but definitely gives you a feel for the mood in this story:
The Perfect Mother is Molloy’s first novel. However, she also wrote the very successful New York Times Bestselling biography However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph and she is the co-author of several non-fiction books.
Is The Perfect Mother RECOMMENDED by me? It is. It is a very enjoyable, easy-to-read book with a suspenseful ending that will keep you guessing. Amazon says that it was one of the most anticipated books of the summer of 2018 though I do not know how they measure that statistic. It did go on to become a New York Times bestseller and will soon be a movie. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said it is "gripping and suspenseful and impossible to put down, a true who done it." Pick it up and you will take a suspenseful trip into motherhood.
Of special note is the fact that the grandmothers in my book club who have young grandchildren enjoyed the daily emails woven throughout that detailed what babies might or might not be doing at each stage.
Order your copy of The Perfect Mother on Amazon by clicking right here. If you have read it, do tell what the rest of us what you thought of the book and, if you enjoyed it, do stay tuned for the upcoming movie version of this novel that is being compared to the previous book and movie releases, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.
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Whether you're a dad occupying a dual role, a fur baby mom, a step-mom, a guardian, two dads, two moms, or a family member who has had to step in and be that soft place to land for others, a working mom or a stay-at-home mom, know that your contributions and sacrifices are never forgotten.
We've noticed it all:
When you handed us the full plate of food, and kept the smaller portion for yourself
That time you reached in your pocket to hand us your last few dollars, and said, 'oh that's ok', I don't need it
Your picking us up late at night when you were exhausted
The trips back and forth as you taxi us to our events for years
Planning our birthdays on a shoestring and making it memorable
We heard you cry from time to time and watched you pick yourself up every time
You laughed at our jokes that weren't funny just so we could smile a little more
You held your pain inside so as not to worry our young minds
You let us have our childhood and didn't demand we grow up too soon
You held us when we were sad or upset, and it always worked
We hurt your feelings sometimes, we know we did, and you held yourself with grace, just for us. When we look back, especially as parents, we see where we erred, and how it hurt you.
You made us face our weaknesses and when we had to grow a pair, you showed us how
You put our needs ahead of your own more often than we can possibly count
When we accomplish something we are aiming for, you are proud of us
We watch you continue to worry about us as grown-ups, and in that we learn from you how to balance that never ending scale of worry-don't worry
Remember when you held our child for the first time, and that tear rolled down your cheek, we felt that too
That soft shoulder you have .... we're still trying to figure out how a rock can be so soft
"Whatever I am, you taught me to be, I am your hope, I am your chance, I am your child" (Lyrics) This Song is for You: "I Am Your Child, by Barry Manilow"
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Do you remember how it felt when you were expecting your
first child?Perhaps you poured over
books like What to Expect When You are Expecting.Wasn’t it fun to prepare the nursery and
begin to shop for baby things?
That’s exactly what I am feeling and doing these days.There is so much to do to get ready for my
little bundles of joy.I thought I was
having triplets, but it turns out it will likely be sextuplets.Now that was a real shocker.
I’m hoping to extend my due date for a couple of weeks.I know that’s counter to what most new
mothers-to-be want.My sister was
begging her doctor to induce labor near the end of her first pregnancy.Given the snow and freezing temperatures,
this is no time to be bringing a baby into the world.
Perhaps you’re thinking I’m a wimp… letting a little April
snow and frigid weather take precedence over childbirth.Um, perhaps this would be a good time to let
you know I’m having chicks.And, those
little peeps will be living outdoors at some point.Since newly hatched chickens cannot regulate
their body temperature, even with a heat lamp I don’t dare have them out in a
coop in the fickle Ides of April.
So I continue to happily work on the nursery and pour over
books like Chick Days.As I turn each
page, my excitement and anticipation grow.I never imagined having a baby at this age, but I’m told the pleasure is
even greater when you're a midlife mother.
While you wait for the baby announcements to arrive, I
invite you to check out my new Chick Days review.Any advice for this new mother hen?
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