I'm 27 years old and I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade.
Like a lot of other posters on here I wasn't dumb. I just got in with the wrong people, started fucking around with drugs (mainly pot, trippy drugs, and of course, benzos), and stopped caring about school. I didn't stop going or anything like that, I just stopped doing my work and either slept my way through every class or sat in the back of the room writing stupid little stories while not paying attention to the teacher at all.
After a few months of doing absolutely nothing in any of my classes, my father let me quit. I was going around turning in my books and all my other reject friends at the time were practically applauding me because I quit. Literally right after I was done my dad took me to Wendy's, because a woman he was dating at the time managed it and he got me my first job, working the register and making sandwiches. I did this for 1.5 years, and I tried my best to not complain about it just so I didn't have to hear my dad tell me that I should have stayed in school. I was a stubborn little shit.
Eventually, I had an epic teenage melt down that included me throwing a headset on the grill and proclaiming, "FUCK THIS PLACE, I QUIT!" Dad just told me to look for a new job immediately. Yeah, 17 year old me got right on that. I spent 6-7 months smoking weed and hanging out with my boyfriend at the time. Then I moved in with him and got a job as a waitress at a chain restaurant.
From 17-24 I didn't really do much besides take jobs in fast food, waitressing, housekeeping, and getting in and out of the same shitty relationship between copious amounts of random partners.. pretty typical stuff for a 20-something in college but I wasn't in college. Living in a college town and being the only kid at your job not in school is awkward.
Everyone is really nice to you until they find out you're just working there and not attending school. You may as well be a leper then, because the vast majority of "decent" people will only talk to you about work, no more prospects of friendship because you don't fit into their college life bubble. I hated it, and eventually just kinda fell into a depression for a while.
So, I was 25 broke, and about to be homeless then by some stroke of luck I met my current boss through a craigslist ad. He was looking for a PA, basically. I was one of many people that were interviewed for the job, I was probably one of the worst dressed and least qualified people there. But, I got the job.
Now here I still am, living a better life, surrounded by good people, and I make pretty decent money to boot. What warms my heart to no end is the fact that my father got to see me pull myself together and make something of myself. My dad called me up around 7 PM one day and just wanted to tell me that he was proud of me and that he loved me. I choked back some tears and told him I loved him too. I wish he could've seen me accomplish more before he passed away.
If there's one regret I have when it comes to how my life went it is that I didn't walk down the aisle in a cap and gown so my father could have seen his only oldest child do something he didn't. At least my little brother got to do it for him.
I miss my dad.