Dad did the grillin' as I grew up but never taught me. As a teenager, I went to parties & watched friends (inevitably!) singe their eyebrows lighting up their dad's gasser. Watched them grill burgers in the dark with no way to tell they were done, people coming over & dumping their beer on the patties, "makes em taste better!" - lucky nobody got sick.
The first time I grilled myself, was in my early 20's, in the early 90's. Went camping at Big Sur with my better half. It was the first time camping on my own. I borrowed my parents little 3 legged, avacado green, hand cranked - to change the grill height - charcoal grill. The center "stud" that went through the center to the crank mechanism & that the grill sat on, was missing. I improvised using a long bolt - that grill was wobbly sitting on that bolt. Somehow I managed to get the coals going & balanced 2 patties on either side of the wobbly grill. I had NOT A CLUE what I was doing! "Fake it til you make it" was what I was doing, I guess. Now, I don't know what it was - was it being outdoors, camping, the fresh air, or was it that the bbq gods were watching over me? Because, those were some of the best burgers I'd ever had!
That's how I started... & the rest is history.