You get to be 40 and you figure you’ve outrun your past.
A father who used booze to drown stresses endured in the Pacific during World War II, who was tough on his five kids and died at age 56, when you were just 19.
A mother who spent far too many days on the couch in front of the TV, eating to comfort her own sorrows.
Grow up in such circumstances and you learn to push through adversity, maybe go to college, get a good job, start a family.