Bobbie Ann Mason

A farm couple married forty-six years look back on their long relationship during Lila's extended hospitalization

Spence + Lila

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From the rise, he looks out over his place. This is it. This is all there is in the world- it contains everything there is to know or possess, yet everywhere people are knocking their brains out trying to find something different, something better. His kids all scat- tered, looking for it. Everyone always wants a way out of something like this, but what he has here is the main thing there is— just the way things grow and die, the way the sun comes up and goes down every day. These are the facts of life. They are so simple they are almost impossible to grasp. 