I’m a happy person. It’s even a way I define myself.

Sometimes bad things happen or I’m under a lot of stress, but I have this odd ability to tell myself stories about what happens to me that give it meaning, that focus on the good stuff.

The day I got deported, for instance, I was excited about how I was going to write it all, how surreal and intense everything was, how much I was learning, and what exactly I was going to do next.

That’s how I am and how I chose to be.