Passion or Hobby?

*Inspired by Mama Kat's writer's workshop prompt, "What are you passionate about?"

I have a lot of things I am passionate about. My children, my family, my God, the gospel, creativity, individuality, writing, nursing my children (I know that sounds strange being squished in with the rest of that stuff, but it's true--with all I've learned and experienced, I'm passionate about nursing my babies...and the subject of nursing in general).

But I picked this prompt because of the way it got me thinking. I mean, you can tell just from the "About Me" section on my blog that writing is my greatest passion...but is it really?

Put everyone and everything out of the picture and focus on only me, then, yes. Writing is my passion. I know I love it deeper than any hobby. It makes me feel alive and like...well, like me. It's the one way I can express myself. Joy, love, satisfaction--all those come to mind when writing. And, as I've admitted before, it sometimes haunts my thoughts and I find myself yearning to escape life and do only that.

Only sometimes though.

Take my "self-indulgent" side out of the picture and writing leaves the equation. Yes, I want to share my writing with the world, want to show the world what I labor over. But when everything is stripped away and it's down to the wire--the wire that asks the dreaded question, "If everything was taken from you, except for one thing, what would you want it to be?"--my family easily tops the list of my passions.

Easily.

Nothing else matters, really. If I didn't have my family, I would have nothing. Be nothing.

My children are my life, the very thing that keeps the blood pumping through my veins and the inspiration in my heart. Without them, I couldn't write like I do. I didn't even find the passion and courage inside me to write until I had Sam. Because it was then that I knew I was a strong woman who could do anything I set my mind to. Suddenly, I had something to write for. They say to write what you know, and what I knew was the greatest love humanly possible--a love that everything else can be built upon.

And inspiration was born.

My children fueled my passion, thus making them the greatest passion.

And in the next life, my family is what I want with me. Even more than my most beloved manuscript.