I first heard of patterns in 1992, when my "Advanced Topics in C++" instructor gave me a photocopy of a photocopy of a first draft of G/H/J/V DesignPatterns book. At the time, my OO career was too young and I couldn't understand what I had been given. I would look at the broken typeface of the much copied document *knowing* that there was experience distilled into that document that I could not yet reach. Now, three years later, I can look at the clean pages of their book and realize there is still a lot to be learned. I guess it's a journey, not a destination.
Journey Not Destination