Irma and Brian Dahlquist first met as students in a psychology class at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. They’ve now been married for seven years, despite friends telling them they wouldn’t last because she’s a Pakistani Muslim and he’s white.

In March, they sat down at the StoryCorps booth at the Chicago Cultural Center to reflect on the early years of their dating and marriage.

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps for WBEZ. Follow him @chicagoan.

Northwestern University’s Natalie Escobar helped produce this story.