Uplifting story:

I once knew a kid, really shitty homelife. Alcoholic, abusive parents. A couple of brothers that he didn't get along with. His dad split when his parents got divorced, and severed all contact with the kids. He was homeless at 16, told me that swimming was the only thing that kept him in school after his mom kicked him out. He graduated high school while living out of his car and bumming around at friends houses so he could get an occasional meal that wasn't from his job at McDonald's. At 19, still living on the streets with no real marketable job skills he decided to join the military. At first things went really well for him, then he got injured after a deployement. Got seriously injured and had a lot taken away from him. He spiraled into a very deep, dark rabit hole of pain killers, heroin, depression, cocaine, and all kinds of other things. He made some poor choices, didn't feel as though he was getting the help or treatment that he needed physically or mentally and so he ran. He went awol, though he knew this would mean being homeless again he was prepped for it. He got clean, spent 6 months or so absent without leave, and after a time turned himself in. He spent a year in ft Leavenworth jrcf for going awol. After he got out he had a hard time finding a job originally. He worked for delta, he was a bartender, had some factory jobs, worked at liquor stores and gas stations, all those though, weren't satisfactory to him.

Four years after his release from prison, he's now engaged to be married, clean and sober for nearly five years, he owns his own home, and he's a sales exec for a pretty awesome company. Plus, 18 years after his father abandoned him, he decided to reach out and re establish a relationship with his dad. They're great friends now and I think the dad will even be attending his wedding.