It is funny to consider the path in languages. My first had to have been some form of basic. Couldn't tell you which dialect nowadays, been too long. That said, I probably didn't do "real" programming til BBS days. Don't know what language those were. Toyed with SQL in my final year of high school. Tried making a D&D character sheet program. College was a hodgepodge of vhdl, c, java, matlab, and lots of pseudocode.

It wasn't until many years later that I touched lisp. I had seen it mocked before, but never used it. That said, I have since found that same sort of joy in programming that you seem to be describing. Only, instead of a "powerful once mastered" feel, I get more and more of "I remember finally grokking this idea in other languages, it was really this easy!?"

Python, in all of this, has fallen by the wayside in a way that I'm just annoyed by all of its claims. Notebooks don't make it any easier. Much of their charm is in areas that I feel tools I was able to use in college easily touched. Matlab is, in particular, an amazing program. Once you get used to it.

I'll give python the credit of being where everyone is today. There is a lot to be said for that. The language doesn't spark any joy for me, though. :(