Wonderful story!!!

I related to your story in so many ways, because it parallels my own story in many points. 

I fondly recall the first time I saw the sponge ball to cube being performed by a magician in a store. Like you, I thought "If only I could do THAT!!"

As Doug Henning was so fond of saying, it absolutely filled me with a sense of wonder. It was that, and the professor's nightmare and a couple others that flipped that magical switch for me. 

I have since become not the kid watching the effects being filled with wonder, but rather the one creating the effect while young eyes watch my hands and THEY are the recipients, the vessels  of the wonder. 

It's a joy for me to think about how many of those young hearts may go home, and not be able to get away from the wonder. And they might even ask their mom for a toy magic set, and the compass is now set. Maybe one  of them may grow up to be the next David Copperfield. 

Those thoughts are a source of constant joy for me.

Thanks glad you liked it! Yeah I feel the same way. I will always remember when that magician at the fair made those two sponge balls appear inside my hand and I had many others who shared the same experience through me, even if they did not take up magic as a hobby they still remembered it as a special moment that was unforgettable. In my case I shared this magician’s same enthusiasm immediately, and it was from that point on that I knew magic was to become my destiny if it was not already decided for me. This is one of the reasons I have had so much success with my magic because I did not forget. I absorbed that moment of astonishment into the deep recesses of my mind, heart, and soul and it seemed to linger and take control of me.

It motivated me to achieve all that I have achieved today, and continue to achieve during my lifelong magic journey—a journey that remains continuous and ever-changing. I would stop at nothing until I too was able to create that same sense of wonderment in others that had been instilled in me. I wanted others to feel that same sense of extreme gratification that they had just witnessed the impossible. I love to perform magic for many reasons, personal enjoyment, audience interaction, stimulation of the mind, provides vivid insight into many other interests, you always learn something new every day, the great reactions it receives, psychological aspects, and most importantly, I love doing it.

Magic has transformed my life into a never-ending onslaught of creative thinking and restlessness. It has created opportunities and opened doors that would have normally been bolted shut. Magic has increased my social skills, verbal skills, manual dexterity, personal interaction ability, and provided me with a means of financial support. It has brought me comradery, and companionship. Magic continues to entice and motivate me in all aspects of my life. Magic reinvigorates me after it has made me weary. Magic has manifested itself deep within my soul, and has built a permanent residence there.

Magic has given me the tools to show others hope, and to prove beyond a doubt that anything in life is possible and dreams need not be hindered by mere logic. Magic has brought me tremendous joy and has instilled a passion deep within me that is unbridled, and insurmountable by any other endeavor. Magic will always be a lifelong prospect for me and one that is unparalleled by any other. Magic has made me reborn and has given me new life. If you are truly passionate about the art the magic bug will always come flying back should you try and abandon this wonderful art too long. However that is impossible as magic won’t let you.

I do magic first and foremost simply because I love it, and I love to spread the joy and wonder that magic creates throughout the world. To me magic is truly "magical" as is the impact it has had on my life. I express great rejoice in being able to reminisce the life experiences that I have had and continue to have in this great art. I have found that the more work that you invest into magic the more it pays you back, and not just monetarily. This holds true for anything in life. I am glad that I made a choice to make magic my chosen hobby and profession as it was one of the best decisions that I ever made.

Wow, I have been doing magic now for 34 years and can't imagine shelving magic that long as that was a long time. . But it is never too late to come back, better late than never!

For me the journey to actually studying magic was a long one. As an early child my family habitually watched the Paul Daniels magic show on TV which is where I got my love of magic from a spec-standpoint - I distinctly remember having my mind blown by The Pendragons whenever they appeared and they were a favourite of mine. Sadly the show (like most of good television from those days) vanished from the screens and I didn't have much in the way of magic to watch. A school friend once taught me a simple French Drop but beyond that I had no thoughts of really practising/performing magic myself. A few years later and David Blaine hit the screens out here and again I was hooked, it wasn't until a few years later I realised that a lot of editing and stooges were required which ruined it a little bit for me if I'm honest (the masked magician show of exposures further compounded this effect - knowing the secrets ruined the entertainment for me at least.) Fast forward to last year and I caught an episode of "Dynamo: Magician Impossible" which I enjoyed, though with my previous knowledge of David Blaine I was very sceptical about the "authenticity" of most of the tricks I was seeing especially when many really did seem totally "impossible." However after watching the show I proceeded to show my girlfriend some "real magicians" I'd remembered from the Paul Daniels show many years before. Around that time I was in the market for a new hobby as music, art and dance have now all progressed far beyond "hobby" stage and well into "work" or "career" stage, after some preliminary price checking I decided I'd quite like to try magic. I began focusing on Coin Magic after seeing some clips of David Roth on-line who still astounds me every time I watch, even on he tricks I know the method on. I'm now around a year in and practising so much that it's pretty much all I do in my free time. Though I don't wish to become a professional, I do hope to one day be able to carry a full gig/performance at professional standards for the sheer love of both entertaining an audience (which I've been doing for the last 20 years) in a new way and the love I have of performing effects and "creating the magic" for others the way it was created for me.

My dad had a few brushes with magic, including the Mark Wilson show, Mark being at the State Fair of Texas, and JB Bobo coming to his school as a kid. When I was a kid my dad opened a magic store, so I spent the next ~20 years around the shop, lectures, conventions, etc.

I think what really got me into magic was watching criss angel quite a few years back. This lead me on a rabbit hole search on youtube looking at card tricks into the wee hours of the morning. Lately some of the coolest magic I have seen has been Penn and Teller and Nate Staniforth. Penn and Teller seemed to have some political rhetoric in their show which I really appreciated. On top of that Nate Staniforth talks about magic in a very scientific way and comes off as an intellectual showman in a way. Definitely in a different realm than my original influence C. Angel but I still appreciate the way he went about his magic that got me into it in the first place. The strange spectacle that he was had quite the allure to it for a 13 year old kid.

I was eleven years old and saw a book for young boys in the library. In this book I read about diy magic tricks. A few weeks later, I made a journey and the last evening there was a party and everyone had to show something. I showed my selfmade tricks - and nothing really worked. So I startet working on the tricks ......

Dad could pull a penny from my ear - that got me interested....magic set at 7 got me hooked...magic lessons for me at 9 years old at the local YMCA introduced me to others with the same interest...becoming part of the very first batch of Magic Castle Junior Magicians cemented it.

When I was 8 I made a zombie ball, and performed a routine for my parents, who said, "That's nice, but give that to your brother. Magic is for boys."

In the 1980s I played in the orchestra for Harry Blackstone, Jr. From the orchestra pit I watched Gay Blackstone doing all the work and getting none of the credit, while Harry soaked up the applause. It reinforced that magic was for men.

Then Teller called me on stage for their "Cell Fish" trick, and my spark was reignited. I spent time talking with him about learning magic.

Later one Christmas, my spouse bought me magic lessons with Mark Wilson. That got me going. I then studied with Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger and Larry Hass, and that addicted me. I developed close-up and parlor/stage acts, and started performing anywhere I could, paid or free. That included impromptu performances at the Magic Castle, where many magicians watch (and judge). Now I am hopelessly lost.

I continue to learn from magicians I respect, which have included John Carney, Pop Haydn, Bob Sheets, Chef Anton, and others, because I have a lot of catching up to do since my parents took away my magic when I was 8 years old.

Like most of us, I'm sure, I was attracted to magic as a child. Copperfield was at the top of his game when I was a pre-teen/early teen - and I'm still captivated by his dancing hankie routine. Somewhere, I still have the torn corner of a piece of paper that I was lucky enough to have him autograph for me on a whim. I would spend hours in the magic section of the library, but was never quite able to get it. Fast forward a few decades, and now I have kids - the middle one asks me to show him how to do a magic trick one day. Wow! The resources available now! We picked cards and coins. Got a copy of Card College and Bobo's book on coin magic. And bought a bunch of things from ellusionist, theory11, and penguin. (It was a "magical" Christmas this year!) Now, my son and I have a "special bond" through our shared magical education. And that is why I got into magic again for the first time.

Just like the majority of people on here, I had a few magic kits as a kid. However, I didn't take the actual plunge until my twenties. After my stint in the Army, I got a job at a local hospital where I became good friends with a supervisor of a different department. He performed magic shows at friends and families birthday parties. He would practice and demo new tricks for me during our breaks and lunches at work. It was then that I started to develop my love of magic and within a few months attempted my first magic show at a kids party.

Things did not go so well at the party as I made the mistake of mixing close-up magic with parlor magic. The crowd liked the bigger tricks and props I used, but when it came to the close-up stuff, I could see them losing interest because they could not see what was going on due to the fact that they were seated to far away. I learned an important lesson that day and once I made the correction to not mix magic during a seated show…I've never had a complaint.

Mickey Mouse magic book in second grade from the school library.

I've always had an interest as a kid but never really did anything about it. In 2006, I was in charge of training a logistic unit about to deploy in Afghanistan and was sent to Fort Bliss. In the flight over there, I saw 2 movies "The Illusionist & The Prestige" and really enjoyed it. During the training, I had to observe logistic convoys reactions to enemy attack. Sometimes at night the convoy would get lost and I would end-up sitting in my Jeep with nothing to do for hours. I decided to pay a little visit to a magic shop close to El Paso and bought my first thumb tip, a silk, Nickel to dimes and a small magic box containing a stripper/Svengali deck and some gaff cards.

I have been hooked ever since and have been performing for family, friends and co-workers. More recently (3 years ago), I have passed down my love for magic to my Daughter who just turned 13. She has performed in front of large crowd and really finds joy in performing.

Great story. .... Thank you very much for protecting our freedom. Your service to our country is very much appreciated.
Enjoy your love of magic.

Reading through all these post makes me realize we ALL have one thing in common.
We didn't find our path to magic.

Magic found us.
THAT...is the real magic in OUR life as magicians.
We have been selected ever since we were a child.

The craft found us.
We were selected.

For me, it was probably some books about card tricks that I borrowed from the public library as a child.

But I think a lot of it has to do with a natural interest as well, only certain people are going to be inclined to pursue magic.

The first time I ever saw magic was a guy doing a simple glide force routine..

I saw him perform it a couple of times and I was both fooled and amazed by it..

I couldn't figure out what he was doing..

it was in a local Caféteria.. everyone who saw the trick was fooled..

After that his "jealous" friend came to us and told us "eeh he was just sliding the bla bla bla"

Everyone said "haaahh" but I was like.. this is actually more impressive!

The simplicity and the thinking behind even the simplest move..

That's what got me into magic..
it's the thinking put behind any and every trick to make it look just like magic..

And to present it to audience so they FEEL the magic!

I remember when I was a kid my dad had some magic stuff. A set of rings, some sponge balls, some red billard balls (with a s***l), a wand, some silks, etc... I remember he got me a toy guillotine trick and taught it to me. Wow, that thing was dangerous. If you didn't flip the lever, you could take your finger right off. Anyway, those early memories stuck with me, and gave me permission and motivation to explore magic as an adult.

I saw JB Bobo when he came to my school and peformed. I was hooked. First grade..6 years old. Got a magic set for my birthday..started doing magic for anyone that would watch. I would perform in my classroom in front of the class. All through school and beyond. I loved to watch JB Bobo perform. I would watch anything with Magic in it. loved Mark Wilson and Doug Henning...and of David Copperfield, later. When I grew up I joined the SAM and we had a local Assembly and JB Bobo was one of our members...so I got to meet him and have two signed books by him. I also got to meet David Ginn. He was at one of our meetings.
I left magic for a while because of life...but now...I'm back. I have a 4 year old Grandaughter who loves to watch her Papa perform magic for her.