Life's a lonely, winding ride
Better have the right one by your side
When Kip Moore more sat down to write those lines with Dan Couch to his hit song "Hey Pretty Girl," the popular singer could never have imagined what an impact his song would have on a lonely little boy struggling to understand his place in this world.
Stephanie Giese, mom to adopted 6-year-old Nick, reveals her son sometimes has a tough time coping with being adopted. Then she witnessed what Moore's song did for Nick while he was listening to "Hey Pretty Girl" on the radio in the family's minivan. She saw her son take in the song's lyrics. Then he started to cry. He told her the song "touched his heart" and then Nick went on to explain that he wasn't sad because he knew that someday he would be married and have his "own family."
It was as if Nick knew that on life's "winding ride" he would someday "have the right one" by his side.
When Nick's mom saw how much the song meant to her son, she decided to write a letter to the Moore, and Taste of Country shared the letter with the world:
"Dear Kip Moore,
I love you.
No, seriously.
You see, we have this little boy to raise and it isn't always easy.
Sometimes he gets angry and throws chairs, breaks doors off of hinges or takes a permanent marker to everything in the living room.
Sometimes he screams that we're not his family because, biologically, we're not. Adoption can be harder than most people know. Sometimes our little boy truly believes he hates us and he wants his "real" mommy back, even though he never really knew her.
But today was just an ordinary day, not one of the tough ones, and your song, "Hey Pretty Girl," was on the minivan radio. When I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw Nicholas crying. I asked why he was sad and, in his infinite 6-year-old wisdom, my son told me that sometimes, people cry even when they're not sad.
Wiping tears away he said, "I'm not sad, Mom. It's just this song. It touched deep in my heart."
He has heard your song before, but today he felt it.
He went on to explain as best he could, as he processed that one day, he could have a biological family of his very own.
"It makes my heart feel something, but I'm not sad. One day will I be married like the song man? And then I'll really be in a family? My own family?"
I wanted to insist that he's in a real family now, and I tried to remind him gently. But, no matter what I say or do, to him, it can never be the same. Kip Moore, today you gave my son the gift of hope: Hope that there will be belonging, and blood relation, and kinship in his future.
So, today this momma thanks you.
And your song's pretty good too.
With Love and Gratitude,
Nick's Mom"
