Can This Just Be Mine?

When you meet new people, one of the first natural inclinations is to ask about their hobbies, what they like to do for fun, their social habits.  I jokingly tell people I'm an old lady because the things I like to do are akin to the habits of the blue-haired beauties you see at the pharmacy counter every Wednesday afternoon. I like to knit and crochet, I scrapbook with pizazz, I watch "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy," and I like to bake.  These are things I like to do for me.  The fact that most of these hobbies (television programs not withstanding) usually result in a product that benefits someone else as well, that's just an added bonus.

I gave almost all of my cousins hats and scarves for Christmas last year (still working on Devon's blanket, my goal is to have it done by December 23rd).  It gave me something to do instead of staring at my phone and email inbox, impatiently waiting for job interview requests that I knew would never come.

I have made a scrapbook for every year of college (and I actually might finish my senior year by the end of summer...five years after graduation).  It's fun to look back and see photos not just haphazardly shoved behind a piece of plastic, but arranged with flare and decorative purpose atop of colorful background.  Because of this natural inclination towards unnecessary paper accessories (and a whole lot of time on my hands), a friend asked if I could turn her wedding guest book into a scrapbook, something she might actually look at more than once after her actual wedding day.  I accepted the challenge, with enthusiasm and excitement, of course.

I started baking because Food Network made it seem so fun (and easy).  One thing that I loved most about it was you had to be precise.  Everything had to be measured out otherwise your cake will fall, your dough won't rise, or your cookies will taste like molasses instead of gingerbread.  You can't force your dough to rise before it's ready.  Cook the bread at too high a temperature because you think it'll cut the baking time in half, and you end up with a loaf of hard, burnt, charcoal.  Yuck.  You have to take your time, it forces you to relax, breathe, and just enjoy the process of turning many seemingly innocuous ingredients into one delicious piece of flavorful comfort.  And because of the joy I take in this, and I guess a modicum of talent, my cousin asked me to make the cake for her wedding day.  No pressure.  While I wasn't entirely pleased with the final product, my cousin and her (now) husband were overjoyed.  I don't think I'll ever forget the look on my new cousin-in-law's face as I showed them their cake, the pastillage toppers I made to represent them, and the porcelain figurine (bearing an uncanny resemblance to their puppy) that was theirs to keep.

But if this last forray into the world of pastry arts has taught me anything, it's that I would not last one day in a professional cake baking/decorating setting.  While I will be more than happy to offer my cake-making services to anyone who asks, it's something I do for me.  Taking that pure love of a craft and turning it into a money-making task would ruin it for me.  I wouldn't find the fun in it anymore.  I wouldn't get excited by my finished product.  I'd just box it up, push it aside, and start on the next one, like an assembly line automaton.

Which brings me to the Question of the Day: If you love something and/or you're good at it, does that mean you should/would make it your job?