“Optimists” follows along behind Frank and his interactions with life after experiencing traumatic events. His father had killed Boyd right in front of him from anger and spite after having watched another man die. It is truly interesting to watch this story unfold because it seems to inhabit the meaning of being an optimist.
Frank continued living on with his life after that night destroyed his family and distanced him from them for 15 years. There was the constant struggle for him on having moved on so quickly that he forgot about the times before his life stopped being normal. Ford was able to create an extremely dynamic character 
who adapted to changes in a very optimistic way, yet Ford also creates in this same character an internal turmoil. It takes Frank years to finally realize how much of a toll that night has taken on him, but when he finally does, it seems to stabilize his life. He is able to open up and take things how they come.
It is impressive to see how Ford unfolds his stories to develop such a diverse character base and storylines. He fills spaces with fitting dialogue and a solid base of information for the reader to picture each scene and character. Within all of Ford’s stories, he never seems to waste his space; even though there are no restraints for his writing, the story always fills the space that it belongs in, and I find that immeasurably impressive.
I find it interesting how you state he adapted to the changes in an optimistic way because I feel that lying to the army to get in to get away from home wouldn’t be very optimistic approach. I can see it also because he may have picked up the trait from his family and maybe going to the army to experience something worse will make the events seem less distressing. I would feel that it responds more in the way of turmoil than optimism though. Particularly when in the end, the last sentence, is far from an optimistic viewpoint.