Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an artist. It's the earliest answer I remember giving to the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
I was always drawing. Always. My mom converted a broom closet into an art closet with a ream of printer paper and a box of crayola markers at my level so I could get them whenever I wanted (and so she didn't have to stop what she was doing every ten minutes to get me more paper).
I had cardboard boxes to store my toys that I had decorated every inch of. I had a cardboard refrigerator box that I turned into a clubhouse. A wall-sized piece of cardboard lived in our dining room, muraled with drawings. I had boxes upon boxes of drawings stored under my bed. When we went out to eat, a notebook and a pen were the easiest way to keep me occupied (bonus points if the restaurant had crayons!).
As I got older, drawing stayed my favorite hobby, but I no longer believed I could do anything of substance with it. It was a fanciful child's dream, nothing more.
Now, I'm an adult running my own online store filled with dozens of products featuring MY art! I've made my childhood self's dream come true, and that feeling is indescribable. Little me would be so proud.
(and yes, I really did own that outfit, and that's my real childhood teddy bear)