What has cake decorating done for you besides the obvious things like being a hobby, make money, etc.??

I was replying to the "Who are you?" thread. I started typing and finished with a book. LOL I was going to delete my original post but thought that maybe I should share it w/everyone. I hope its not "too deep" for everyone. I hope others have some wonderful stories to share also. Here it is:

Okay this is going to be really hard. Who am I? I'm not really sure anymore. Bare with me. I worked in the public school system while I was working on and completed a Bachelor's Degree in Elem. Education. Shortly after I got preggo for #2, DH wanted me to stay home to raise our kids. I think its somewhere around this time that I lost myself. 18 mon. later, I'm preggo w/#3. I pretty much drove myself crazy throwing myself too much into the "super mom" role. I alienated myself from the rest of the world except via computer trying to do it all on the homefront. Child #3 had health issues since she was 4 mon. old. Bouncing from hospitals to doctor offices to appointments for everything under the sun nearly finished me mentally and physically. I found out that I was expecting baby #4 when sick baby #3 was only 14 mon. old. I honestly think cakes saved my sanity. Not joking one bit. I think I was on the verge of a breakdown from stress when I forced myself to take a break from everything. I saw myself starting to unravel. I knew if I didn't change something that I'd soon start to crumble from trying to manage it all. I saw a sign on the side of the road advertising cake classes. I took a total of 4 of them now. Cake decorating helps me to mentally check out of my Super Mom role for a little while and concentrate on something other than things of everyday life. It's been my saving grace. I'm married but pretty much live as a single parent to my 4 kids who are now 12, 4, 2, and 6 mon. It's just recently that I have come up for a breath of fresh air and started doing a little bit for myself. Having 3 kids in 4 years was tough! Cake decorating gives me a break from all that. I hope all this doesn't sound silly. While I'm in my baking zone, I'm not a wife, a mom, a friend. I'm just totally me, all by myself. My DH doesn't support my love of cakes. I try to hold on to doing it anyway. All this aside, I usually think of the glass as half full, have a good sense of humor, am a total night owl, can find an interest in just about anything. I don't like to sugar coat things. I express my opinion freely and I usually don't fall in the majority of things in life. I don't have any real life close friends b/c I can't find the time or energy to support those kinds of relationships anymore. Thanks to all those CCer's who find time to give me advice when I do post something. I seriously hope someone can relate to this.

Anyway that was going to be my response and I just made a separate post for it. Anyone else have some inspiring stories to tell?

Honestly, I think it might just have kept me out of jail!
I am a teacher in a community that is upper mobile. I bought here 37 years ago when it was very affordable. Since then bigger and bigger houses were built now many are in the million dollar range. Our taxes now are very high. The public seems to want to save tax money by keeping teachers salaries and benefits low. So, this year I got a $0.96 raise for the year. The board signed the contract that also stated that if we agreed to a higher copay on the medical they would make sure our plan stayed the same. Okay-Oh wait! This month they said they had "overlooked" a state law from a year ago that told boards that they should "review other insurance companies to make sure the plan given was cost effective" Now they state that means they can go with another insurance company that offers a cheap plan that doesn't cover anything we had before and one that few doctors and no specialists will accept, and we will still have to pay the higher copay. The board voted this new plan in.
So, a board member calls me at 8:30 last night-to touch base because she wants to make sure her son will have her choice of teachers next year and be in certain clubs. She is sure that I would want to grant her this favor!
I said-oh,my! I'm sorry can't talk now-I have a cake in the oven! I really did and that cake stopped my from putting on my sneakers running over to her million dollar home and smacking her in the side of her head! Whoa-just missed going to jail and being sued.
Greedy people just don't have a clue do they?
Oh, and I am planning to make lots of cakes next year as my hobby because my DH works long hours and in the past I always stayed in school working until at least 7pm every day and I went in a least 2 weeks during the summer to work, all unpaid. Now Ill go home at a reasonable time, watch those Sugarshack DVD's and bake, bake, bake!