I've shared my story here before too, in various threads over the years, but I'll go ahead and repeat myself.
I always loved to create, but even by the age of about 6, I was what I'd call a "frustrated artist." I was the youngest of 5 very intelligent, talented kids--My mother was a gifted painter and craftspeople, my sister (just a year older) was really talented at drawing, and my decade-older brother was a highly skilled writer and artist, already seeing some pieces published. Hence, the "frustrated" part. My self-esteem suffered because no matter what artistic endeavor I tried, a parent or sibling was already way better at it, and I was not competitive enough to use that as motivation, so instead I just didn't draw or paint or write because in my mind I wasn't any good at it (that is, wasn't as good as the older sibs or parent).
Then at about age 10 or so, my grandmother gave me my grandfather's old Brownie Jr.
THIS old Brownie (sorry about the poor quality):
It was already about as beat-up looking as it is now, but suddenly not only did I have an artistic outlet, but I had a connection to a grandfather I'd never gotten to meet personally (he died several years before I was born). This cheap little camera had traveled with him as he worked government contract jobs in South America and the Azores and with every shutter actuation, I felt like I was somehow walking in his footsteps. In at least one way, I was. He wasn't actually that good a photographer, lol!!
Anyway, I loved that little camera and loved my new hobby. At some point, I moved on to little Kodak Instamatics, then for high school graduation I got my first SLR, an Oympus OM-10. What a lemon that thing was!! It was in the repair shop more than it was in my hands!
A couple of years later, I got the awesome Pentax K1000 (which I also still have), and got really serious about photography. Had my own darkroom and all that.
I wish I'd really stuck with it back then. But college, marriage and kids caused me to back off from really pursuing photography in any serious way. I had a variety of point-and-shoot cameras but only used them to take pictures of the kids and vacations, not for anything artistic.
Phase TWO of "The Bite" came in June 2010. One kid was in college, the other about to finish high school, and I knew I was about to be an empty nester. I refused to be one of those who just pined away for their kids. At the same time, I went with my sister on my first cruise, to the Caribbean. And all I had was a little Canon Powershot point-and-shoot. I took some decent pictures, but the whole time, I just saw all this opportunities for great photos and wished I could capture them better. My artistic vision was being reignited!
By the time I got back from the cruise, I knew that THIS was how I wanted to spend my empty-nester years, getting back to my "first love," photography!
I was a broke single mom, so it took another year to save up enough for a DSLR, a Nikon D5100. The rest is still history in the making.