Your first big break?

[aaronc879]

Still waiting.

 

[Hermit]

...
My folks did not pay for my college, but dad did buy a town home he let me rent (rent was the price of his monthly note) and returned my rent to me in the form of equity when I was ready to buy my first home....

My folks didn't pay for my college either, but my Uncle Sam did. He even gave me a stipend while I attended.

 

[REWahoo]

Still waiting.

I'm surprised you didn't post, "My hip".

 

[bbbamI]

My first big break...being born in America to the best parents a kid could ever have.

 

[CoolRich59]

I know what my big break was.

I was a paralegal w@rking for a regional grocery chain. My bro-in-law w@rked for a huge megacorp and told me of a legal assistant position that had opened up. I figured I had nothing to lose, applied, and ended up getting the j@b.

I was there less than a year when my dept manager offered to have megacorp pay for law school tuition with no strings attached.

 

[DrRoy]

Having self discipline and being patient.

 

[cooch96]

I feel like the only big break I’ve had is being born in The USA with a set of useful attributes, like patience (stubbornness), curiosity, and intellect. Everything since then has felt like a slog or the result of careful or hesitant decision making.

I have been fortunate in that I haven’t suffered from any serious bad luck: no terrible ailments, never the victim of a heinous crime, etc.

I daresay DM feels quite a bit of responsibility and pride for my professional-class successes and that’s fair. But I wouldn’t call a puritanical upbringing a big break, it certainly didn’t feel like it at the time.

 

[Ronstar]

I think my first big break happened at the end of my first year of junior college when the engineering instructor lined me up with a summer job at a local engineering firm.

 

[donheff]

My parents covered my college tuition which was important, although I always worked during college to meet the rest of my needs. I also moved back home for a brief period after I lost a job in Texas in my early 20s and concluded Chicago was where I wanted to look for a "straight" job. But none of that was what I would call a big break.

The huge break I always felt in my core was that my family had my back. And that because of them I always knew that I would ultimately finish college and do well at whatever I chose to do. It took me almost six years to complete the BS because I felt comfortable doing other things in the meantime. I also felt free to quit teaching shortly after college and drift down to Florida to scuba dive and then to Houston where I worked odd jobs. A stable family that I knew I could fall back on left me comfortable with that profligate life style for those few years. When I lost my job in Houston (through no fault of my own by the way) without the family base I would have been forced to take what I could get on short notice to make ends meet. Who knows where that would have led - possibly a rewarding but different path. Possibly a disaster.

Throughout my life I recognized that my secure family backup made all the difference.

 

[SumDay]

More than one for me too:

Went to work for the federal gubmint, who paid for my paralegal studies degree...
which got me a job (and experience) at a law firm and learned about ERISA law...
which got me a job with megacorp in 1984, and a nice promotion/new job in 2004...
which allowed me to retire one week ago today.

I've been blessed beyond measure.

 

[Ginny]

Wow! I love these stories. I had an uncle who gave me some $ when I was a little girl. That was my college fund and helped me pay for college at a state supported school. The funds grew to $3000 and in the seventies, that paid for my school. My next break was when I was accepted to law school in the seventies, although the school only admitted 22% women. I suppose it was a break that no one ever told me at the age of 12 that I could not be a lawyer, although the FBI told me in 1966 that they did not accept women as field agents. Never did apply to the FBI.

The rest was up to me. A positive attitude and perserverance served me well!

 

[pjigar]

First "break" (most significant): Inability of finding any job that was paying living wage in a 3rd world country after graduating as an electrical engineer which forced me to the land of opportunities. Interest-free loan from my uncle was instrumental in this migration. By far the best thing that happened to me in my life and I am so grateful to my adopted country and my uncle for everything I have.

Second break: Small accident claim money my DW received which helped us buy our first house.

Third break (financially most significant): Finding my 3rd job which almost doubled my income in three years.

 

[sengsational]

Surrounded by people who believed in me; I'm pretty sure if I grew up with people telling me I'd never amount to anything, I wouldn't be on this board.

 

[brett]

Marrying the right person.

 

[Lukeee]

Marrying the right person.

She’s looking over your shoulder isn’t she.

 

[street]

^ lol!

 

[unclemick]

The date was July 1st, 1970. (Draft Lottery)

The luck of the draw most likely kept me from going to Vietnam... It was probably the major game changer for me and the rest of my life and it was totally out of my control.

My other breaks, I made for myself, for the most part.

1966. 1-A, Passed my physical waiting for the word when I got a call from Boeing. II - A and a career in the Space Program.

heh heh heh -

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Being born. It's everyone's first big break!

-BB

 

[foxfirev5]

Strong family, great wife ( a lttle HM but it keeps me on my toes), good health. What can beat that ? Of course it's easy to dismiss money once you've got enough. Big breaks - not so much.

Simply plodding along and gratefully accepting opportunities and fortunes as they occur.

 

[Beldar]

I've led a Rodney Dangerfield sort of life, no "Big" Breaks or respect, to be quite honest.

But if I stretch it, I could say being awarded an ROTC scholarship back in the 70s allowed be to attend college and earn a degree. My parents weren't well-off so this was the only way to gain entry. Otherwise, I might have ended up like many of my contemporaries at the time, clerking at a department store or low skill labor ( I'm not knocking that by any means ).


_B

 

[aja8888]

Break No.1 - Being smart enough to leave home to be on my own at 17 to be away from alcoholic parents.

Break No. 2 - After four years of active military duty during the 1960's, getting the G.I. Bill to go to college on ($222/month!).

No more "breaks" after that - Just hard work, dedication to living right, and saving enough to retire on (but not early).

 

[travelover]

I've never gotten a break in my life. I worked hard to be born a white American male of above average height, to a middle class couple adjacent to a well to do suburb with excellent schools. I don't much sympathy for anyone who did a lousy job of picking their parents and grandparents.

 

[brucethebroker]

Pulling a high number in the draft lottery (very early 70's). If I never get lucky again...

 

[Scuba]

My first big break was being awarded a full tuition, room & board scholarship for four years of college. Had I not gotten that, I would probably have had to go to community college and live at home for 2 more years, and who knows what direction my life may have taken.

 

[HFWR]

Still waiting...