The formation of topological data analysis (TDA) as a research area with dedicated meetings and funding happened during the years around the beginning of this millenium. A crucial step in this development was the introduction of persistent homology. The root system of this idea goes back to the dependent and independent work of a number of mathematicians, including Marston Morse. This talk recalls a few of the steps on my personal journey leading to this concept, and steps that expand the basic notion toward other branches of mathematics and applications outside of mathematics.