leaving the farm, then breaking new ground.

Lyle Link left his father's farm after deciding that picking corn and shoveling manure wasn't for him. He met his future wife, Marion, at church and never looked back. Now 90, Link describes the life they lived together and his heartache now that she's gone.

The Links lived a life full of adventure, he says. It started with a drive across the country on their honeymoon. "I had a '36 Chevy and I was able to lay a mattress in the back seat," Link says. "We spent our first night in that car on a bluff over the Mississippi River. My father, by the way, did not approve of that kind of outrageous living. But I was willing to break new ground," Link tells Dreher. "And your grandma really was ready to break new ground." Link says he doesn't know why he loved her so much. "It was something I couldn't help. We have been in love for almost 70 years. And she now died.... And all I can say is that life was so beautiful.... "

"I think when we got married, we made all new tracks and we never stepped in any old tracks. I want you to do the same thing," he tells Dreher. "Live with courage."

_excerpt from NPR, storycorps