My Hobby; Your Hobby

     I have a few hobbies, but there is one I like the most. Baking. I absolutely love to bake. I bake all kinds of things, including cookies, cakes, muffins, scones, and truffles. My favorite types of cookies are snickerdoodles, classic chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter. I also love making blueberry and cinnamon swirl muffins. The only con I would think I would say is that my brothers eat them all in two days. They have no self-control. Sometimes I also share them with our bible study group, and they are always gone that night.

     A few times I have sold my cookies to people at my church and made some money. But that is not why I bake. I bake because I love the feel of making people happy with my baking. I love the taste of a good cookie or whatever I am making after all of the hard work I did.

     Now I am trying to convince a friend that she should take up baking. She isn’t so sure. Her name is Lexi. She usually tries to cut corners and do all things the easiest way. Baking to her sounds like too much work, the way you have to clean up before and clean up after. The way you have to be on your feet basically all day when you make them. The way you have to wash all of the dishes and have to sweep the floor of crumbs.

     But I don’t see it like that. I see it like an opportunity to serve someone. I, personally, like to clean sometimes. I see it as an opportunity to see what it is like to have to do that every day. Making dinner every night, and washing dishes every night, and sweeping every night, and wiping the tables every night. That is the job of our parents. That is what your mom or dad do every night. But we don’t have to do it every night. We only have to clean up when we bake.

     I tried many different ways to get Lexi to like baking. I let her try a cookie after I made them, letting her see that you get rewarded by getting to eat some really good sweet treats after you're done baking. She still wasn’t quite so sure.

     I tried letting Lexi bake herself. She decided she wanted to try and make banana bread muffins. I show her how fun it is to add ingredients to the bowl and mix it and pour it into the muffin tins. Again, she still wasn’t sure.

I tried to let Lexi sell a batch to show her that there is more than one reward. She did get some money, but for the third time, Lexi wasn’t sure that she liked baking.

     I tried all kinds of things to make her like baking, but Lexi honestly never really picked it up. Near the end, I was slowly giving up. At the end I thanked her for trying, but she obviously did not like baking as much as I hoped.

     Later, after I had cleaned up our big mess, I called her over to hang out, not bake. I made that part very clear, because it was also very clear that Lexi would not come over if we were going to bake, because she was very tired of it.

     So I suggested that we do some crafting. I have some craft supplies that I had gotten for Christmas earlier that I hadn’t used yet. I pulled out the box and suggested that we paint. Lexi agreed. We started painting random stuff like books and jellyfish and ocean and whales, and all that kind of stuff. I was in the middle of painting the Percy Jackson logo when I realized Lexi started painting some weird stuff. 

     She was drawing other craft supplies. She was painting sewing machines and cloth and ribbon and buttons and all kinds of other craft stuff. And I also noticed she did it all with a gleam in her eyes. The kind of gleam that I imagine is always in my eyes when I bake.

     Then I realized it. Lexi found her thing. Her hobby. Crafting. That is her hobby.

     “Lexi,”I say softly. “ You found your hobby.”

     “I what?”She asked back.

     “Your hobby.”I say again.

     “Oh. I guess I did, huh? Crafting. Interesting. Never thought much of it before. I always kinda liked it. Never did it much except for art class at school. Art always was my favorite.”Lexi responds.

     After that, we talked for a little while before we went back to painting. As soon after we both finished the painting that we were currently on, we switched to another craft thing. Making bookmarks out of duct tape, ribbon, and yarn. I wasn’t very good at it, while, on the other hand, Lexi was amazing at it. Everything was the right length and width and all the right color combinations. Every single one looked great.

     “You should sell those Lexi, they look really good. Every single one is the right size, and has all the right colors.” I remarked.

     “Ya. I guess I could. It is always nice to have a little cash in your pocket. But where?”Lexi responded.

     That’s when a brilliant idea hit me.

     “Lexi?!!! You are a genius!!!”I say, my voice full of excitement.

     “Ya? Let me guess you have a “amazing” idea? And why am I the genius?”She said back.

     “What if we made a little side booth? You could make all kinds of crafts, like bookmarks, duct tape cups, and sew some cool stuff, while I bake some cookies, muffins, and brownies. It would be awesome! We could set up the booth in the park that has the annual Forest Fair! Do you know how much money we could make? So much! Probably about $100 each! That would be so fun!”I reasoned.

     “Yes, that would be awesome! But, Isabella, how are we going to get ready in time? The Forest Fair is in only a month. We have to decide on the prices, and on the location, and on what we are making, and-”

     “Lexi, stop. We got this. We can make a list of things we need, decide what we are going to make, and visit the website to see the days it is open and if we need to pay. We can arrange rides and supervision and everything else, okay?” I interrupt.

     “Ya, okay. I guess I got a little crazy. Let's do this.”Lexi said, calmer.

     For the rest of the week we talked a bunch of stuff out. I would sell cookies, brownies, blondies, and blueberry muffins. She would make bookmarks, duct tape cups, paintings, and some stuff with her sewing machine. Lexi’s mom would drive and check in with us the first day and my mom the second.

    Before we even knew it, we were on our way to the first day of the Forest Fair. I was so excited but also very nervous and I could tell Lexi felt the exact way.

     The whole first day was a big blur. We handed out our stuff in exchange for money. At the end when we counted our money, we saw we had made $150.

     “Wow!!!! $150! That’s $50 more than we thought we would get!”I say excited.

“Yessssss! Sweet! I can get that camera that I have wanted for so long!!!”Lexi responded, also excited.

     “And we still have tomorrow! We could still make more!”I said.

     The next day was again a blur. But by the end we had made another $175 each!

     “ Wow, I guess more people came today. We made $25 more!”I say.

     “ I know! I can definitely get that camera now.”Lexi responds.

     Afterwards, I invited Lexi to come with me and my mom to get frozen yogurt. She said of course, and we went to the Yogurt Lounge and each got a huge share of ice cream.

    Weeks later, I had a kindle and Lexi had a camera. Not only that, but we both had our hobbies.

-The End