What is the thing you could talk about for hours?

The interest you keep coming back to, the one you make time for, spend money on, travel for or simply never stop learning about?

For this week's Passion Issue, we wanted to meet people who have found those things.

Their interests couldn't be more different. For one, it is a collection that began in childhood. For another, it is a football club he has followed for more than four decades. There is a lifelong connection to growing and the land, and a shared interest in wine that brought five friends even closer together.

The collector

Katrina “Spring Flower” Smith has loved dolls since childhood, when she admired her grandmother's collection. One of her most treasured, Amy-Lee, was given to her by her mother when she was 8.

Today, her collection numbers well over 100.

“It’s so large now that I actually lost count. It’s over 100, and I’m being very modest by saying that.”

Her collection ranges from $2 thrift-store finds to artist-made dolls costing more than $2,000. But her reason for collecting is simple.

“Many of us just love dolls.”

The superfan

Perry Thompson has supported Manchester City since the 1980s, and his choice of team came down to one very Bermudian consideration.

A St George's supporter, there was no chance he was supporting anyone wearing Somerset red.

“No way I could support a team that wore red. Bay and Somerset? No chance of me being for Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United — any team that wore red.”

He has since watched City play around two dozen times, including at Wembley and Old Trafford.

“Yes, it’s expensive, but you can’t put a price on that.”

The maker

Chris Faria's connection to the land began in his family's garden in Bermuda and during childhood summers with his grandparents in the Azores.

“For me, memories of farming and being connected to the land are from the Azores.

Today, that passion drives his work through Agra Living and his continuing study of soil biology.

Mr Faria spends between four and six hours a week studying and examining soil samples under a microscope.

“You can lose yourself in time looking at the sample and the magnification of the samples.”

For him, working with the land is also deeply personal.

“For me, it’s a spiritual practice.”

The connoisseurs

Afro Sommelier started when Ezekiel Stoneham, Shannon Burchall, Darren Woods, Robert Richardson and Casey Castle created a group chat and decided to learn about wine together.

Five years later, they're still learning. Every wine night earns points, with one member eventually crowned Afro-Sommelier of the Year.

“We don’t claim to know it all or be the defining beings for wine,” Mr Richardson says.

Along the way, they've travelled together, hosted wine experiences and built friendships around something they simply wanted to know more about.

“It’s just amazing how a simple interest can connect people for what I would like to think … is for life.”

That's the thing about passion. It doesn't have to look the same for everyone.

It can be something you've loved since you were eight, a team you've supported for decades, a connection to the land that followed you from childhood or something you discovered with friends.

Sometimes you choose it. Sometimes it seems to have always been there. Either way, it's the thing that keeps pulling you back.