Come from a family of farmers, construction workers, and truck drivers. Did rather poorly in high school with my grades, so my early jobs were retail sales (clothing and shoes), fast food deli, and roofing (not ideal job when living in Southwest Arizona). Further education was not in the mix for me.
Made some personal life changes and a mentor gave me a chance and helped initially fund me to attend college. Took a while and I was a non-traditional college student (married, 3 children) when I graduated with my undergrad (history major, poli-sci minor) degree. Moved out of state to attend law school (now with 5 children at graduation), passed the state bar exam, and have been with my employer going on 17 years.
Looking back, I clearly "outkicked my coverage", but am incredibly thankful for how things have turned out. If I can make it another 10-13 years, the pension, retirement benefits for my industry, and the overall compensation perks from my employer should hopefully set my wife and I up to be able to enjoy our latter-years and still provide for our children's inheritance.
