When I was in college and home for Thanksgiving, my folks invited everyone out to dinner. After ordering, my dad would often introduce a topic of discussion that we'd bat around until the food came. That year he said: if you didn't need to worry about money or success, what other career path might you find interesting. Without much thought I said, I'd like to play electric bass, due to the fact that when I listened to albums, I was really mostly following the bass. I don't even recall what my other siblings said.
On Christmas day there were the usual gifts: socks and underwear, a couple of new shirts, and a book or two. But after that was all done, my dad said: tomorrow when the music store is open, let's go buy a bass. It was a $200 hondo (a fender p-bass knockoff) and a 15 watt Crate amp. What an extravagant gift! I'm 60 now and still playing, though never professionally. :-)