this song was recently played at a funeral i attended because it was fitting to the relationship shared between the man who passed and his stepson who is now grown and is raising his own family; i could like to know because my husband who is my children's stepdad is the BEST and it would be touching to hear again. thanks to those who help! "He Didn't Have to Be" by Brad Paisley. Even if it's not the right song, it's worth a listen. It took me several years to realize it, but I love my stepfather and appreciate all that he did for me and my mother -- even if I never got invited to the movies. USA Weekend Magazine had a nice article about Dad's and country music.  Here's a snippet: Stepdads are too often overlooked, a driving point behind the powerful "He Didn't Have to Be," from Brad Paisley , about a boy, his single mom and the new man in their lives. Arriving for a date with the mom, the man invites the boy to come along with them to the movies. Eventually, he proposes. Years go by, and the man is standing next to the now-grown boy before a nursery window, awaiting his stepson's new child. "I think about the man that's standing next to me," the narrator, as the stepson, sings. "And I hope I'm at least half the dad/That he didn't have to be." Paisley and songwriter Kelly Lovelace, who is married with