My father chose "God damn it to hell" as his favorite declaration for all occasions. My mother chose morass and paradox as her mantra. I chose mediocrity as safe middle ground. This life as story narrates two competing experiences: learning about adulthood and retaining a childhood. It's a story about managing middle child syndrome, accepting mediocrity, and adjusting between two homes. It's full of imagination and dreams. Olsen shows the reader how his peripatetic life journey lends confusion to his self-perception and whittles away at his self-confidence. Olsen shares adolescent pranks, shenanigans, explorations, and mishaps. He narrates his tentative relationships with family and childhood friends. There is intrigue and delight in his adolescent adventures. There is despondency, rejection, and pain in his experience of growing up. He is a dreamer, a survivor, and is wholly authentic in presenting his life as story.