“We were married 34 years as of yesterday. We cooked 36 pounds of crawfish for just us and ate until we got full. We have about 10 pounds left. We are catching mullet for dinner tonight. We live in the woods and have a garden and he deer hunts. I work for a company that makes air conditioning filters and have worked there for 21 years. I am originally from Rhode Island. My mama and daddy had 3 kids and each one was born in a different state. Daddy drove a truck hauling mobile homes across the country. I met my husband when I was staying with his aunt. This sounds silly, but it was love at first sight. We have been together ever since.”

“What has been the hardest part of all of those years together?”

“He has a mental condition. He is a paranoid schizophrenic. We went through a rough time before he was diagnosed. He was abusive and drinking beer continuously. It got to the point where he went to the hospital and said, ‘you help me or I am going to go home and kill both of us.’ They committed him and got him help and he has been better ever since. I stayed with him because I love him, for better or worse, and it was worse. This went on 4 or 5 years and it was good to get him back. We went through a lot of changes and we are better now. 34 years and we are still together.”