Speaker 1: With me on the phone lines are Friday Night Girl,
Speaker 1: Nicole Nordoman, Welcome to the Delilah Show. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I have been playing your music and listening to your
Speaker 1: music and and sharing your music with my kids for years,
Speaker 1: but I think this is the first time I've got
Speaker 1: to interview you. It is the first time, and I've
Speaker 1: been a fan of yours for a long long time,
Speaker 1: so this is a real thrill for me. Thank you
Speaker 1: for the time. Thank you. So where is home for
Speaker 1: you and your family? I am in Tulsa, Oklahoma, um,
Speaker 1: where I have been for about seven years now. Before
Speaker 1: that was in Dallas. But but Oklahoma is home now,
Speaker 1: and I'm very happy about that. Oklahoma is home because
Speaker 1: that's where you grew up. Or Oklahoma is home because
Speaker 1: that's where God just took you. That's kind of just
Speaker 1: where God took me. Um. You know, we're living in Dallas,
Speaker 1: and a lot of our extended family, UM aunt and
Speaker 1: uncles and grandmas and grandpa's and cousins, we're in the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma area, and we just really felt like we learned
Speaker 1: our kids to just grow up around family. So that's
Speaker 1: what brought us here. So Nicole Nordman you have a
Speaker 1: song and now a book that every mother and many fathers,
Speaker 1: but all the moms that I know, the first time
Speaker 1: they listened to the song, they're just like reduced to
Speaker 1: the ugly cry Yeah yeah, this song. Um. It was
Speaker 1: just such an accidental saying really. Um. Of course, looking back,
Speaker 1: I don't think it was excellent at all. But but
Speaker 1: my son was graduating from the fifth grade and the
Speaker 1: teachers um in his school asked if I would sing
Speaker 1: a song at their little graduation ceremony, and I kind
Speaker 1: of forgot that I had agreed to do it, and
Speaker 1: so at the last minute the night before, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, what am I going to sing? What
Speaker 1: on earth would I have to say to the creators
Speaker 1: that they wouldn't think is terribly lame? And I didn't
Speaker 1: want to embarrass Charlie, of course, so let's let's let's
Speaker 1: be honest. Mom. Yeah, anything you say do around a fifth, sixth, seventh,
Speaker 1: or eighth grader is going to be terribly lame. It's
Speaker 1: absolutely lame. If you ever have any dissillusion that you
Speaker 1: might be somewhat cool, just go spend some time with
Speaker 1: middle schoolers and you will. You'll be corrected quickly, You'll
Speaker 1: quickly realize how uncool you are. Okay, So you had
Speaker 1: agreed to sing a song at your son's fifth grade graduation,
Speaker 1: and because your mom, how many kids do you have?
Speaker 1: I have two kids. My daughter is eight, So two kids.
Speaker 1: Busy mom, recording artist and author, flying around here and there,
Speaker 1: trying to keep all the balls in the year you forgot.
Speaker 1: I forgot, and I was mad at myself for forgetting
Speaker 1: because it was such an important sort of milestone and
Speaker 1: it was important to him and of course very emotional
Speaker 1: for me just as a parent. He's sort of, you know,
Speaker 1: leaving elementary school and this milestone transition into middle school.
Speaker 1: And I was mad that I had forgotten and that
Speaker 1: it wasn't more on my radar. So I sat down
Speaker 1: at the piano after they were in dead and I
Speaker 1: just kind of started rehearsing songs that I know performed frequently,
Speaker 1: that would be familiar or you know, might sort of
Speaker 1: sit the event. And for whatever reason, I just felt
Speaker 1: so emotional, like it sort of hit me out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: like this is like he's really graduating, you know, into
Speaker 1: this next phase of life. And so I made the
Speaker 1: grave mistake of pulling out old photo album No no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you daster it was Adapter. I was full on, ugly
Speaker 1: crying by myself at the piano at two in the morning.
Speaker 1: I just thought, how in the world can I slow
Speaker 1: this down? And just growing up too fast and I
Speaker 1: have no control over it, and so I just started
Speaker 1: singing about the pictures that I was looking at and
Speaker 1: the memories that I had held in my heart, and
Speaker 1: then gave birth to this little song that I sang
Speaker 1: the next morning at his graduation, to your Money. And
Speaker 1: was every other mother that was there crying along with
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yes, I didn't. I'm sure I sing it
Speaker 1: horribly because I could barely get through it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we were all just so emotional and it meant so much,
Speaker 1: and I really thought that would be the end of it.
Speaker 1: I thought that was my gifts to Charlie and to
Speaker 1: his classmates and to the other parents. And no one
Speaker 1: even recorded it, you know, it was just kind of
Speaker 1: a private moment. And then I had a couple of
Speaker 1: moms say to me, you've got to record that song,
Speaker 1: and I thought, there being sweet, you know, every one
Speaker 1: sort of caught up in the moment. So I played
Speaker 1: it for some some folks at my record label with
Speaker 1: a million apologies and disclaimers, you know, for the Mom's song,
Speaker 1: And everyone was in agreement that this needed, this needed
Speaker 1: to be shared with a wider audience because it's such
Speaker 1: a universal feeling that we all just we so badly
Speaker 1: want to freeze time and we can't. And there's just
Speaker 1: some beauty and some lament in that. And so I thought,
Speaker 1: you know what, I think I will think I'll share
Speaker 1: this with with more people than just we're in the
Speaker 1: room that day. So how old is Charlie now? He's
Speaker 1: fourteen now. So if I was uncool then I am
Speaker 1: considerably more uncool now uncool now? And does he does
Speaker 1: he give you the eye roll like constantly? Yes, it's
Speaker 1: the I roll, and it's you know, I did I
Speaker 1: remember being that age. I really do. And I loved
Speaker 1: my parents had a great relationship with him, but you know,
Speaker 1: I also was just so embarrassed, like they tried to
Speaker 1: be cool and they were not cool, and they tried
Speaker 1: to be funny and they were not funny. And I'm
Speaker 1: that person now and it's pretty awesome. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: love it. Oh yeah, So tell me about the little
Speaker 1: book that has now come out to kind of partner
Speaker 1: with them, slowed down the song. Sure well, UM, the
Speaker 1: song first became a video, and again that was just
Speaker 1: very That's when I saw it. That's when I did
Speaker 1: the ugly cry. The video that was that was my
Speaker 1: ugly cry. And we didn't expect you know. Again, it
Speaker 1: was just like, let's put together some video footage of
Speaker 1: our friends and there and their babies and these kids
Speaker 1: that I've grown up with, and UM just kind of
Speaker 1: as a little companion to the song. And then when
Speaker 1: it really went viral almost overnight, I think, everyone stop,
Speaker 1: when we've really tapped into something UM really special here
Speaker 1: and obviously people are really connecting. So obviously all the
Speaker 1: moms are really crying, just like Delilah is right now.
Speaker 1: So out of that experience, UM came this idea for
Speaker 1: a gift book and and really what it is, Delila
Speaker 1: is just it's just a collection of essays, very personal
Speaker 1: moments from my own UM life as a mom, the
Speaker 1: not pretty moments, the messy moments, the beautiful moments. UM,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to write those stories out as
Speaker 1: an extension of the song to share with other people.
Speaker 1: You're really good, Nicole at at at unmasking and being
Speaker 1: real with the like you said, the not pretty moments.
Speaker 1: That's kind of that's kind of become your identity, is
Speaker 1: getting real and and encouraging people to get real. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for saying that. I I definitely feel like
Speaker 1: the people who have encouraged me most in my life,
Speaker 1: whether they are speakers or authors or pastors or artists,
Speaker 1: are the ones who aren't afraid to sort of pull
Speaker 1: the curtain back and expose their own um brokenness and
Speaker 1: ugliness and and just to be transparent. I think that's
Speaker 1: really how we heal each other and how we support
Speaker 1: each other is by letting ourselves really be seen and known. So, UM,
Speaker 1: thank you for that. That's a high compliment if if
Speaker 1: you feel like my music says that as well. UM,
Speaker 1: I appreciate so much, especially when you encourage young women
Speaker 1: and young people, UM not to buy into the hype,
Speaker 1: not to um, not to feel like they have to
Speaker 1: cover up, not to feel like they have to disguise
Speaker 1: who their true nature and who their true self is,
Speaker 1: or live up to someone else's expectations. And I love
Speaker 1: that about you. Well, I think like anyone who's walked
Speaker 1: a bit of a journey. Um, it's it's easy to
Speaker 1: talk about the miles that you yourself have traveled, and
Speaker 1: so I can I can say that to you younger
Speaker 1: women or younger audience, UM, because I have I been
Speaker 1: that false self, and I have put up that mask,
Speaker 1: and I have tried to be someone I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to be a better Christian than I am or a
Speaker 1: better mom than I really am behind the scenes, and it's, um,
Speaker 1: it's exhausting to try to maintain that kind of a facade.
Speaker 1: So anytime we can just be ourselves with each other
Speaker 1: as a real gift. Nicole Nordeman, welcome back. We are
Speaker 1: talking about your sweet song and your new book. Uh,
Speaker 1: Embracing the everyday moments of motherhood, slow down, embracing the
Speaker 1: everyday moments of motherhood. And with all the storms of
Speaker 1: life raging around us, wildfires and hurricanes and solar flares
Speaker 1: and earthquakes, I think now is such an important time
Speaker 1: to remind people that all we have, all we have
Speaker 1: is this moment, this hour, and we need to slow down.
Speaker 1: We need to slow down and love on our kids
Speaker 1: and bask in the joy of these moments. Yeah, Nicole Orderman,
Speaker 1: slow down, Thank you. God bless you, honey. Thanks for
Speaker 1: while you too, Slow down and love Soon we're to
Speaker 1: love