In this chapter I describe how my interests in and commitment to developmental psychology grew in a multidimensional, discontinuous, nonlinear fashion. Prominent early personal, social, and intellectual influences included: coming of age in the 1960s, transitioning from fervent Catholicism to philosophy and science as my guiding stars through college and graduate school. I shape my story around the notion that “half of life is accident, and the other half is what one intentionally makes out of accident.” I began my work by focusing on the nature, causes and consequences of child maltreatment. Pursuing further research, practice, and policy interests, I conducted theory-informed longitudinal studies of the influence of risk factors (especially poverty and violence) on various dimensions of developmental processes and outcomes. More recently, I shifted focus to the design, conduct and analysis of randomized trials of school and/or neighborhood-based, social-emotional learning interventions, in the USA and then in conflict-and-crisis affected countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Creating and supporting collaborations with students, colleagues, and organizations has been critical throughout.