Songfacts®:

• This song was co-written by the Season 4 winner of American Idol, Carrie Underwood. Lauren told Taste of Country that it really stood out to her as she looks "up to her so much," adding "It's cool to have the opportunity to record a song she wrote."
• Speaking about the track in publicity materials, Lauren said the song's storyline reminded her of a good friend of hers. "She got married when she was 17, and she had a baby. And they moved here, to Nashville," she explained. "Her husband is going to college and has a full-time job, and she stays at home with the baby, and she doesn't know anyone here. She moved here to support him. That's, like, the story of that song."
• Lauren explained the song title to Taste of Country: "This young girl decides she's going to run away with her boyfriend. The chorus talks about how when you are young and in love, you do things that aren't always seen to be the smartest move. I think that is so true! The 18 inches represents the distance it is from your head to your heart. They end up scraping by and get married. The song talks about them wanting a child but yet they are just kids themselves. They do have a baby, and it makes them grow up and they thank God for the 18 inches, which is also how long their baby was."
• The song was released as the third single from Alaina's debut album Wildflower. "I've had co-writes go on other people's albums before, but this will be my first single," said Underwood. "I've never had that before. It's always been really cool when someone else wanted to record one of my songs that I helped write, but to actually possibly hear it on the radio at some point, that's gonna be really cool, and Lauren is so amazing and does such a great job. It's so wonderful that that song found a home with her. Even she and her mom, they're like, 'This is our song. Like, this is all about us.' It just fits her really well."
  
  The cut was released to radio on July 16, 2012.