Sounds like you’ve had..

I was starving.  Thankfully a guy I worked with was also, and we headed down to the food court together.

I had just graduated from high school and was working at Sears during the summer before I moved to start college.

I hadn’t been working very long, so as we sat eating our Chinese food he asked me a few questions about my life.  I ended up giving a pretty quick synopsis of things..  Grew up with my grandparents instead of my parents.  Explained that it was better for me because my parents couldn’t have provided as good of a life at the time.  I probably explained how I left home at 16 to do to a boarding school to get away from my alcoholic grand father.  I told him about my little brother being hit by a car and spending a month in a coma.  Along with whatever else I could think of I finished up my story.

He looked at me and said "Sounds like you’ve had a pretty rough life".  I remember it exactly.

I told him that wasn’t the case at all.  And I still believe it.  I’d gone through some bad times, and had to learn to deal with things that I shouldn’t have, but even at eighteen I realized I’d really been pretty fortunate.  The problem is that when you’re trying to explain to people what defines you it generally isn’t the great moments that alter the way you feel and act.  It’s the moments that you’re most miserable, and how you handle them, that really define you.

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.