Eighteen Inches

It's about fifteen hundred miles to California

They'll get there Friday if they leave tonight

She sneaks out at 3:30 in the morning

Leaves a note so she won't see her daddy cry

He cuts the engine when he coasts in the driveway

She slides in and gives him one kiss for the road

No friends and no family, no job out there waitin'

The whole town will call them crazy but they gotta go

'Cause when you're young and in love, yeah

You might do some things that don't seem all that smart

'Cause there ain't no greater distance

Than the eighteen inches from your head to your heart, yeah

They can barely make rent on a rundown apartment

She's waitin' tables and he's a valet

They're behind on the bills and the car's barely runnin'

But he buys a ring with the tips that he's saved

When you're young and in love, yeah

You might do some things that don't seem all that smart

'Cause there ain't no greater distance

Than the eighteen inches from your head to your heart

The last thing they need

Is another mouth to feed, but they won't call

They're just kids themselves but that's

Gonna change in 9 more months

She wakes him up at 3:30 in the morning

Ready or not, their new life's gonna start

Seven pounds and eighteen inches

The doctor lays that new baby's head right on her heart

When you're young and in love, yeah

You might do some things that don't seem all that smart

But thank God for all those eighteen inches

The distance it is from your head to your heart, yeah

Yeah, yeah