“MOMMMM, FREDDY’S TRYING TO EAT THE FISH AGAIN!!”
Startled, I opened my eyes to see my oldest child, Sabrina.
“Sweetie, just please get the fish away from him and give me a minute ok?” I asked, exasperated.
She nodded and ran out of the room. Oh, I am not looking forward to another day of the same thing. And why isn’t Mark watching him enough so he will stay out of the fish bowl! With a sigh I swung my legs over the side of my bed and got up. I walked into the kitchen and saw my children eating and my husband rushing around the house.
“Hey hon, I gotta go, early meeting today you know!” My husband said before he ran out the door. On that note, I walked over to my crying son, Freddy and put him on my hip, “shh shh its okay don’t cry, come on we have to get you ready for pre-school” I told him.
“Mom, don’t forget that today’s my soccer game so can you please make my team some cookies?” asked Sabrina.
“Yes sweetie, don’t worry. I’ll make them after I drop you and your brother off at school.” The rest of the morning flew by as I rushed them to school and then made Sabrina cookies. After I baked them, I decorated the cookies into soccer balls. Baking and decorating had always been a hobby of my brother and I, and our childhood dream had always been to open our own bakery together, like the one my grandparents had when I was younger. As we grew older, and their business went bankrupt, we realized that opening our own business would be less-than practical. I was wondering what I should make for dinner, when my husband called me and said that he wanted me to make steak and baked potatoes.
I was about to get on the freeway, when I saw somebody on the side of the road holding their thumb up. I was going to keep driving by, but this person seemed young and nice, so I thought I would lend them a ride. People are always telling me I’m not spontaneous enough.
“Ayy thanks for the ride!!!!!!! By the way my name is Maxine, what’s your’s?” she screamed as she got into my car.
“Camille, and uh yeah where are you headed?” I asked.
“Just a little deeper into town…maybe the bus stop? Maybe the library? Who knows?”
“Um, since the place where I’m going is pretty close to the bus stop, I’ll just drop you off there.”
“Whatever….but good!! You chose the place I really wanted!”
“How about I turn on some music?” I turned to look at Maxine, but she was staring straight out the window with a blank expression on her face that I later recognized to be fear.
“Oh!” I exclaimed as I saw a truck crash head-on with our car. I opened my eyes and saw Maxine looking at me. 
“Your hands aren’t even on the steering wheel…swhy?” Maxine asked me.
She was right. I looked down and my hands were in my lap, but the car was driving itself. I should have felt shocked, or maybe even scared, but I felt normal.
“So why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Maxine asked.
“I have a loving husband and two wonderful children.”
“You don’t sound very happy. Is there something else you want?”
“I’ve always dreamed of opening my own bakery, and which my brother and I could own together.”
“Why do you speak so sadly about your brother?”
“He’s not doing so well right now…I’m worried about him.”
“Well nobody can change that except for you. If you want to help him or yourself you need to do something.” I look over at her and realize that we have been parked in front of the bus stop. For how long I have no idea.
“Well are you going to go? The bus stop is right here.”
“Are you going to do anything to change your life or gonna sit here?”
“You’re the one just sitting here in this truck right now!”
“Yes, but so are you.”
“Well, if you won’t leave then I will!” I proclaimed and got out of my truck. As I was walking away I realized that I shouldn’t be leaving my car alone with a stranger but everything just seemed like it would be ok! I walked around town, and ended up in front of the building where my husband works. I decided to go in and talk to him.
I walked into his office and he looked up at me, surprised.
“Hey honey, everything ok? What are you doing here?”
“I want to open my own bakery with my brother. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now…”
“Yeah but what about the kids? It would just change so much of our lives!”
“I know, Mark but why does my career have to be on hold when you get to do whatever you want!”
“Come on Camille…not this again. And I know you want to help your brother, but he just doesn’t want to be helped right now.”
“He doesn’t know HOW to be helped right now!”
“That’s what I meant.”
“Oh….” I looked around his office with tears in my eyes. I just felt so useless when it came to helping my brother.
“Mark. I have to go to him. You know what happened with my mother, and I can’t have the same thing happening to him like her.”
Mark sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was just about to answer me when I was suddenly in front of my brother’s house. I looked into the window at him.  He seemed so lost.
“Dan!” I yelled at him trying to get his attention. 
“Camille…why are you here? You live over 500 miles away from me. And why are you acting so strange?
“I’m here because I want you to come live with my family and I. You need some direction in your life…and I want us to finally start Ray’s cupcakes.
“At this point, I just don’t care if you do that. I don’t care anymore, Camille.” I realized I couldn’t deny the fact that my brother has depression and that he isn’t getting better.
“Come live with me and my family! You living here all alone isn’t helping you! Come change your life!’
“It sounds to me like changing your life is something you need to do. Not me.”
I nodded and started walking away. I felt something poking me…

I opened my eyes and saw my family and our friend Rachel staring down at me. Where am I?
“Mommy’s awake! Mommy’s awake!” Sabrina yelled, smiling at me.
“Camille, we were so worried about you. Rachel could you please take the kids away for a little bit? I want to get her caught up, and not feel too overwhelmed with the kids here.” Mark said.
Rachel nodded and took the kids outside.
“So what happened… why am I in the hospital?” I asked my husband.
“A drunk driver slammed into you in a car accident. They said there was another passenger with you, who is she?”
“I was driving to the store…and picked up a hitch-hiker, Maxine. She seemed really nice. Where is she now?”
“She didn’t get hurt as badly as you did, so she was able to leave the hospital a while ago. Really how are you feeling?”
“I don’t know…but as strange as this might sound, I’m glad it happened…because I really had some time to think.”
“About what?” And with that I told him my entire dream. At the end of it, Mark seemed wary of my request to invite my brother to live with us and start my own company, but he saw how much I wanted to help my brother and how much I missed my hobby.

Two months later

“Camille could you start on the dough for the cinnamon rolls? I gotta take this call.” Dan told me. I nodded and started to mix in the ingredients with a smile on my face. My life was great, I had a loving family, a dream job, and knowledge that my brother was getting better. Being around my kids was really helping him. And I was so excited for our first day open!
“Hey, look our first customer!” I looked up, excited to hopefully make our first sale. Our first customer was Maxine.