Snugs, CNN (domestically) has run a bio of the VP. It was pretty good, and I learned some things about him I hadn't known before.
As we know, he met and fell in love with Lynne while still in high school. What I didn't know was that someone helped him get into Yale, but in his heart it wasn't something he wanted to do. He felt out of place at Yale. He missed Wyoming and Lynne, and his grades suffered. He was kicked out eventually, and went back to Wyoming. Between the ages of about 19 and 22, he lived a bit of a wild life. He smoked and drank heavily, and kicked around meaningless jobs. For awhile, he was a lineman (fixing power lines) for the local power company.
At least as the CNN bio tells it, Lynne issued an ultimatim. It was either his wild lifestyle or her. He decided he lover her too much to lose her. So he enrolled in the University of Wyoming, took some political science courses, decided he loved politics, and the rest is history.
Apparently, he didn't quit smoking, eventually getting up to three packs a day. It is believed that, plus stress and poor diet, are what caused his first heart attack.
So it seems both our President and Vice President went through a period of sowing their wild oats before the women in their lives straightened them out.