I guess I was 18. First year at university. They gave me a live CD for free, there was a ladybug on the picture.
That was great to do things on my own.
I remember then trying ubuntu and all sort of distros, a big waste of time, except Backtrack, very handy to save an expensive internet subscription. Well, I was young, a student, and I had neigbours with WEP.
Then, there was debian, I still use it sometimes, just easy and working.
Finally, alpine and crux.
The last one brought me to OpenBSD.
Never felt so much at home since what... 6 years? 7?