Biography time! It's just always been "for me". As a child I loved my Airfix aircraft, loved books about aircraft and would always look up to the sky. My dad definitely had some substantial influence there as he was always listening to Airband Radio and taking me to airshows.
As an early teenager I already knew my eyesight was too bad to make a career at sitting in the front seat, but I joined Air Cadets in the hopes of fostering a career in the RAF. Air Cadets remains one of the best things I've ever done and it did nothing to quash my love of aviation (Apart from the time I was privileged enough to fly in a Nimrod and spent most of the time chucking up). I could easily write a 101 things I love about airfields, aircraft and aviation - probably starting with the smell of a jet.
But, for various (good and bad) reasons, I never did join and real life got in touch - girls, cars, career, marriage etc and aviation moved away from me.
The year before last I saw an advert for RIAT, decided it had been way to long since I'd watched a Fast Jet take off and booked us in. I suspect that was probably an expensive mistake - we went again last year, and then this year I had a motorcycle ride out to a smaller airshow to see the Vulan. They had a Tutor and a Bulldog there and it just reminded me how much I missed flying and how long it had been since I'd done so.
And that was that, really - I ended up having a day off from work so I drove down to my local flying school and booked a trial lesson. 20 hours later and it's still all I think about all week! Literally everything I imagine and hoped for.
Beyond the physical act of stick and rudder - almost everything about aviation appeals to the engineer in me. I love the theory, I enjoy the utilitarian nature of the cabin and I get a bizarre amount of pleasure in just flicking switches as I do my checks. I think the discipline appeals, too - the desire to remove ambiguity from our actions and radio calls - that appeals a lot to my way of thinking.
Incidentally, the other thing I've enjoyed is suddenly been back around like minded people. I knew I was 'home' when half the flying school dived out of the shed to see a visiting aircraft (I'm not even sure what it was, tbh!)