Revisiting love songs as a mother

They say that becoming a parent changes everything, and it really does. Your time, your lifestyle, your entire identity changes. You think you know who you are, then poof—you are someone completely different. It’s not good or bad (okay, sometimes it’s either or both)—but it’s different.

One big change that I’ve noticed is how I look at music. Every love song used to be about my husband/then boyfriend, but after Wood Sprite was born they took on new meanings. Wood Sprite has been sick lately—bronchitis for about two weeks, and today she’s actually got a stomach bug on top of it—and she’s been asking for “new songs” at night. We have about a dozen or so songs that are “ours,” from “Somewhere Out There” to “Seasons of Love,” but she wanted something different. So I started to sing “Love Me Tender,” which I used to sing when she was a baby, and she loved it. Then she wanted more “slow songs.” Racking my brain, I came up with the country song by Randy Travis, “Deeper Than the Holler.”  She loved that one, too.

The more songs I ended up singing, the more I thought about how we think love songs are about romance when we’re young—but when we get older, they’re even more meaningful. Maybe they’re about our partner, or about our children. They’re not so much about infatuation but about deep, committed love—love that is still desperate, but not on the same level. Instead of desperate longing, it’s a desperate need to comfort and care and sacrifice for the person you love most. I love these songs even more today as I associate them with my family.

Do you have any examples of songs that you love even more as an adult?

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