Susan wonders: are we BORN wanting to do it?

Write books, ride horses or create fabulous pastries, that is?

What? You were expecting something a little more titillating?

:) I was counting on that.

The first time I met my future sister-in-law she was painting a picture of a horse. She LOVED horses and rode at any opportunity. Every spring we'd go over to Sun Lakes in eastern Washington. (or as we call it up here in our little corner of the world: East of the Mountains) The first thing she'd do is drag everyone down to the stables and bully the stablemaster into letting us take the horses out on our own. This was heaven for her. For me, not so much. I always seemed to end up on some big ol’ brute named Bright Eyes who's only desire was to return to the barn. And if he had to scrape me off against a tree to obtain his objective. . . well, that worked for him.

But I digress. Reading has always been my passion and as you all know, writing eventually became my defining one. But back when it was still merely a mental exercise I did to put myself to sleep at night, I found a creative outlet in baking. Pies and breads, mostly.

The minute I pulled out that flour canister, my Sweet Baby Boy started clamoring to help. I think he was maybe three/four years old the first time he pushed a chair up to the counter where I was assembling ingredients and pulled on an apron that pooled atop his shoes.

By the time he was 13 he was creating desserts with such beautiful presentation it knocked my socks off. The minute he was old enough to legally hold a job he went to work in a restaurant and eventually won a partial scholarship to culinary school, where he trained to become a pastry chef.

Since then, he's worked in some fabulous restaurants in the Seattle area. My sister-in-law now owns three horses. And I write for a living. So I'm wondering: were we born to do these things? What do you think? Are people meant to choose certain paths in their lives? And do you have a passion that manifested itself early?