The song was written by Jon Vezner who later became Kathy Mattea's husband. He wrote the song about his grandparents, after personally witnessing the scene depicted in the last verse of the song. Kathy Mattea recalled later that when he told her the story, he could barely speak without crying. Eventually he wrote a song about the incident and played it for her after the #1 party for her hit Goin Gone. Kathy Mattea recalls: "We went upstairs to the listening room, and when the first chorus ...
