90 Plus: Marie Ardoin, the simple life. "I gave my yard and my garden".

Marie Ardoin, 94 of Opelousas said she lives the simple life.

OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) – Marie Ardoin, 94 of Opelousas said she lives the simple life.

"I have my yard and my garden," Ardoin said. She's surrounded by portraits of times gone by with pictures that line her shelves stay within arm’s reach.

“I would say I’m the longest living in my family.” Ardoin was an only child. "That's my momma and my grandmother. She was a little tiny person," Ardoin explained. She says her father had a cousin and her mother had a sister who never had children. "And you know I was spoiled,” she said jokingly.

Ardoin says when she married, she started a family. She has three children that she had to raise on her own after her husband passed away at age 43. “I sewed a lot. I did all their wardrobes,” she said. As the children grew, the size of Ardoin’s family grew.

 She said her “Ah-ha” moment of enlightenment came to her as close friends began to pass away, especially her next-door neighbors who she shared so much time with. “When they passed my life changed a lot. We had that closeness,” she said.

 She said if given the chance to do something over again, she would continue her education after high school and pursue a career. “I always thought about nursing, but never ventured into that,” she said. “I got married instead.”

 After many life lessons, Ardoin says never go extremes because you only have one life. “They don’t realize that life is passing them by. The jobs get more of their attention than family,” she said.