Still something after all these years

When you're looking for a job or have a project idea that you want management to consider, the professionals tell you to develop what's sometimes called a bus-stop statement or elevator pitch. The scenario is that you have 30 seconds to tell your story - what you're going to do or what you did, why it's important, and how you're going to do or how you did it. Without being frantic, you can speak about 150 words in 30 seconds. (Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is 186 or 268 words, depending on what your definition of a word is.)
Lately, through high school and college reunions, Facebook, and chance encounters, I've had the chance to re-establish contact with friends from long ago. What do I tell them of my life?
In its shortest form: "It's better than I expected, for which I am deeply grateful."
The next level up sounds like an obituary - married with two children, seven grandchildren, parents were ..., graduated from ... and ..., was a member of ΦΒΚ, worked at ...,  also did ..., and so on.
After that, the stories aren't so easily told or controlled. Why was I such a jerk back then and why am I not (or think I'm not) like that now? How come my first job after college was as a Kelly Girl office temp? And why did I have to leave work nearly three years ago? And, oh, by the way, how's the family?
Of course, everyone has their own set of stories. You tell your story, listen to someone else do the same, and you find that everyone, I think, is surprised by life. Even if they had plans, good plans that came true, they'll still encounter a set of reverse-threaded lug nuts. (Chrysler products in the 60s had reverse-threaded lug nuts on the driver's side; the theory was that the nuts, would tighten themselves as the wheels turns. It was almost a good idea.)
Then, again, we should never forget the possibility that there are some who are just better than us.
When asked "How's it going?" one friend would reply simply, "Yeah." Most people never noticed.