I resonated with so much of what you said! From the wanting to fly airliners since you were a kid, playing flight simulator, watching air crash investigation in my case (to the perplexment of my parents), building models, the best part of the family holiday being the flight, and then searching these forums as a young teenager.
In fact, it was that last thing that turned me off the career at the impressionable young age of 13. I pursued an interest in college, rather than a passion, and I am now in my second year of employment at an office job. It's bearable, but I still find myself looking up to the sky every time I hear a plane. The itch is still there.
It's great to see that you would do it again, because it means that my desire to begin pursuing this dream may not be childish or naive.