Curveball Quotes

When misfortune has thrown us a curveball, and the tentacles of desperation are freezing our mind, foreshadowing a hustle-bustle of confusion, we must inflame the power of our imagination. Let us take a walk on the path of groundbreaking change, take daring initiatives, and create a scheme of inventive intentions, gradually paving the way to a new setting, assessing each stage thoughtfully. ("Check and mate")

A good friend will come and bail you out of jail, but a best friend will be sitting next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'!

Just when you think you know who you are, life has this way of throwing a curveball and landing you back in the town of confusion; population: a vast majority of the human race.

YOU MIGHT THINK FINDING YOURSELF is tough and ends in high school. I wish that were true. Finding yourself is a lifelong journey. Just when you think you know who you are, life has this way of throwing a curveball and landing you back in the town of confusion; population: a vast majority of the human race.

Life will throw you major curveballs, but it’s rare you can do much more than duck.

She had fouled off of the curves that life had thrown at her.

If life gives you a curveball, then be the catcher and catch it.

An artistic perspective will jab at you from a different angle; its logic comes like a pitcher with a curveball.

We’re all human and we all screw up. We all make big, messy, life-altering mistakes, and sometimes it’s for selfish, superficial reasons like what I did…and sometimes it’s because the universe throws you a curveball, forcing you in a direction you never saw coming.

Ah, well. There was no sense in brooding over it. Life never stays the same. There’s always some kind of curveball coming at you. Nothing to do but swing away.

My mom always told me that when you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, the universe will help you out. It may throw you a few curveballs, but they’re all in the name of a good cause. Once you leave your path behind, that’s when you start swimming upstream. It’s good advice.

It reminded me that pain was necessary. Pain was life's curveball. Without it, we would never appreciate what it felt like to be loved.

Just that what happens today or next week or next year isn't necessarily the way things are always going to be. As soon as you settle into a routine, life throws you a curveball. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you don't.

Life is just a series of curveballs thrown at you. Some knock you down. Some you hit over the fence, making you feel like a winner until the next one comes barreling by. It’s how you react to those that knock you down that define you.

Pain was life's curveball. Without it, we would never appreciate what it felt like to be loved.

Life throws you curveballs. You have to learn how to knock ’em out of the park’.

Any time life threw Melanie a curveball, she merely threw her hands up and shouted, “Plot twist!

Those are my favorite kind of punchlines. The curveballs that make total sense. Like you think the joke can only end with A or B, and somehow, the comedian finds C.

When life throws a curveball, you have a decision. You can go on being angry and empty, or you can move toward peace. It’s living or dying. Choose the path that makes you feel alive.

For years, i lived my life, waiting for the other shoe to drop... i thought control was something i could have over my life. My goal was to live life, in such a way, that i would never again have to suffer any form of trauma or abuse that would remind me of my painful past. I was living life on a tightrope of tension. I was only happy when things went smoothly and came apart at the seams when i was thrown a curveball. NOW, i realize, that the key to happiness is surrendering to the illusion of control. And to trust that, no matter what happens to me, i have the infinite inner-wisdom and strength to find my way through.

I may not find joy every day. Some days will just be hard, and I will simply exist, and that’s okay, too. No one should have to be happy all the time—no one can be, with the ways in which life throws curveballs at us. On those days, it’s important not to mourn the lack of joy but to remember how it feels, to remember that to feel at all is one of the greatest gifts we have in life. When that doesn’t work, we can remind ourselves that the absence of joy isn’t permanent; it’s just the way life works sometimes. The reality of disability and joy means accepting that not every day is good but every day has openings for small pockets of joy.

Life has thrown you a curveball, baby. But it don't mean you need to throw all you know out the winda' neither. The Lawd is gonna give you another chance at love but you must be smart about it.

There is not a single loophole or curveball or open trench to fall into for the man or woman who walks the path that Christ walks. When He says, "Come, Follow Me" (Luke 18:22), He means that He knows where the quicksand is and where the thorns are and the best way to handle the slippery slope near the summit of our personal mountains. He knows it all, and He knows the way. He is the way.

I'm not looking for love," she tried to explain."If it comes my way, that makes it twice as special.

Life is this crazy combination of love and risk and loss; then, just when you think you have it figured out, it throws you a curveball.

Life throws these curveballs at you so you’ll grow from them, so you’ll become the best possible version of you.

Do you always touch strangers?” I question, trying to ignore the warmth of his hand and the way I have to remember to breathe. “You’ve been upgraded to acquaintance,” he winks. “This is completely appropriate.

Adrenaline is my drug of choice.

I never wanted you lost, Em, only to find me.

It's all just hormones, my friend. You might as well just say you're in testosterone with somebody. And if you're really lucky, she might be in estrogen with you.

The media not only fans our fears, it comforts us in our hubris. Nearly every scare story comes with a Message: You can take control. You can do something to keep bad things from happening to your children and to keep life from throwing you curveballs.

When the gods look down and fuck up your world, when the map you have laid out for your life has been ripped out of your hands, you are left somehow impotent and abandoned. And with the knowledge that the nature of your mortality is not a given. That life is a process of cause and effect, and however much you might side-step the cracks, stay away from the edge, keep on walking past the open windows, no one can prepare you for the utter shock of the backflip, the left-field pitch, the curveball, that knocks all that you are, all that you have known, for shit. If it’s coming for you, it’s coming for you. No point trying to hide from it.

Ben: You know what's really great about baseball? Lindsey Meeks: Hmm? Ben: You can't fake it. You know, anything else in life you don't have to be great in - business, music, art - I mean you can get lucky. Lindsey Meeks: Really? Ben: Yeah, you can fool everyone for awhile, you know? It's like - not - not baseball. You can either hit a curveball or you can't. That's the way it works... Lindsey Meeks: Hmm. Ben: You know? Ben: You can have a lucky day, sure, but you can't have a lucky career. It's a little like math. It's orderly. Win or lose, it's fair. It all adds up. It's, like, not as confusing or as ambiguous as, uh... Lindsey Meeks: Life? Ben: Yeah. It's - it's safe.

Celibate? He lived and breathed sex. Considered sex the eighth wonder of the world. Suffering blue balls was for teenagers. Not grown men.

But sometimes, the curveballs end up smacking us in the chest and close to the heart, leaving bruises that never seem to heal.

Life keeps throwing curveballs at you but, it's not how you miss it's who you get back up.

You never know when life will throw you that curveball, and snap away something dear to you within the blink of an eye.

because what do we really control but how we react to life’s curveballs?

When life throws you a curveball, embrace the chaos, and turn it into your competitive advantage by shifting your mindset and transforming adversity into opportunity.

when life throws you a curveball, you will end up saying, “God, what are You doing to me?” We end up blaming God, as opposed to allowing the goodness of God to navigate us through the situation.

I think it’s best to go into things with an open mind and see if the other person makes you want to fight to make this world better for their sake, and if they don’t motivate you to want to become the next Batman, then they’re not right for you. From:

when the science community shuts its collective mind to what Mother Nature might do because it’s just too scary to contemplate, as some have done with Ebola virus transmission, we surely won’t be better prepared for the next biologic curveball, whatever it happens to be.

You support me when I falter, and give me strength to bear the pain of my past. You make me laugh until I hurt, and soothe me when I’m tied up inside. It’s funny how things work out, how life can throw curveballs, yet two people wind up exactly where they’re supposed to be.

But then life threw her another curveball. And when she once again began picking up the pieces, learning how to survive and rebuild after everything exploded, there was only one man still there, one man who remained by her side, showing her that sometimes life isn’t about learning how to survive… It’s about learning how to thrive.

But from where I'm sitting, it's two smart, loving adults who are navigating a curveball in the best way they know how. It's two people who were both a little lost until they ended up on the same path and walked together for a while. It's two people who are happier in each other's company than they are alone. Better together than they are apart.

David stared right back. The head games were fun for David. Of course, if he could manage to get a hit, it would be even better. The second pitch was a curveball and David didn't come close to making contact. "Strike two!" said the ump even louder. David kept his mouth shut this time. For some reason, David felt more confident than he had before,

Birthdays should come every day. Especially when you missed so many as a kid.

Secondhand pieces have the most soul.

I'm so far gone, every song I listen to brings me to thoughts of her.

Every exam, every tournament, every match, every recital—there’s always some wrinkle, some misplaced calculator or sudden headache, a glaring sun or an unexpected essay question. At bottom, interleaving is a way of building into our daily practice not only a dose of review but also an element of surprise. “The brain is exquisitely tuned to pick up incongruities, all of our work tells us that,” said Michael Inzlicht, a neuroscientist at the University of Toronto. “Seeing something that’s out of order or out of place wakes the brain up, in effect, and prompts the subconscious to process the information more deeply: ‘Why is this here?’ ” Mixed-up practice doesn’t just build overall dexterity and prompt active discrimination. It helps prepare us for life’s curveballs, literal and figurative.

The president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909, Charles William Eliot, thought that ball-carriers in football ought not search for holes in the line that could lead to gaudy breakaway runs, but should do the modest, gentlemanly thing and plow headfirst into the nearest man-pile. (Eliot also didn’t like baseball because he believed curveballs and other deceptive pitches to be unsportsmanlike.)

I hated how sometimes life threw you a curveball—how you thought you were going to make some money selling a stolen tiger to make your dad proud, but then all the sudden there were drugs instead of money and then you were probably going to relapse mostly because you didn’t want to disappoint your best friend who had recently drawn a very funny cartoon about an octopus on your ass cheeks that would not come off your body no matter how hard you scrubbed.

...that's what a book should do. It should tie you up, it should work you up, make you think, make you see, make you feel extra happy and sorrowful, extra nervous and bold. It must be dream laden, scheme sodden, soul shaking. And it must do all of this as mysteriously as a left-handed curveball coming at your head, twisting and spinning and making you duck until, at the very end, it magically crosses home plate, with such grace and command that it humbles, crumbles, and amazes you.

Just as the FBI was haunted by Hoover, the CIA had its own ghost. In the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA made a huge mistake. In part as a result of lies told by a key source—amazingly code-named “Curveball”—who claimed he had worked in a mobile chemical weapons lab in Iraq, the CIA had concluded that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The case had been a “slam dunk,” according to a presentation CIA director George Tenet made to President George W. Bush. The alleged presence of WMD was the key justification for the Iraq invasion. No WMD were found, an acute embarrassment for the president and the CIA.

Dude. I’m going to have a baby. A baby cub. What the hell am I going to do?” Amara hugged her close and kissed her temple. Her friend warmed her when Eliana hadn’t been sure she could ever feel any form of warmth again. “You’re going to be a kickass mom. You and Malik are going to talk and figure out a plan. Whether you are together or apart, you’ll be there for this baby. We all will. I know fate just threw you a curveball of epic proportions, but you can handle it. You’re stronger than you think you are.” Eliana hoped her friend was right. Because everything had changed once again and now she had to be the rock for not only herself but her baby, as well. Only she was tired of being the rock. She wanted to lean against someone. She wanted a partner. She just didn‘t think Malik knew what it meant to be a partner. Because she sure as hell didn’t.

In every classic comedy duo, from Laurel and Hardy to Abbott and Costello to Martin and Lewis, in order for the exchange to work, the quality of the straight man had to be as dynamic as that of the funny guy. Carl was the best at this. I could use a single question as a springboard to unplanned exposition and tangents that would be as much of a surprise to Carl as they were to the audience. Carl was a gifted partner: While he deferred the punch lines to me, he knew me well enough to follow along and cross paths enough to set me up for more opportunities. He also knew he could throw me a complete curveball and I’d swing for the fences. We were a great ad-libbed high-wire act, and like the best high-wire acts, ours was dependent upon complete trust and respect for each other. Carl once said, “A brilliant mind in panic is a wonderful thing to behold.

Anton stood up and crossed the room to sit beside her on the sofa. “I’ve often thought that a marriage is like a covered wagon, full of the stuff of life. The man and the woman are the two workhorses who pull it. Eventually, it gets heavy. There are children in the wagon, a home that needs to be maintained, feelings that need to be protected and nurtured when life throws curveballs. It works when both partners pull together, but the journey can’t continue for long if one partner unbuckles the straps and decides to ride in the wagon, because it’s easier, and because he knows his partner will keep pulling no matter what. Sometimes it can’t be helped. If someone gets sick or is suffering in some other way . . . physically or emotionally or financially . . . when that happens, the other person needs to bear more of the load, but generally, when both partners are capable, husband and wife should be a team, pulling together, or at least taking equal turns.

There are. Storytelling may be the mind’s way of rehearsing for the real world, a cerebral version of the playful activities documented across numerous species which provide a safe means for practicing and refining critical skills. Leading psychologist and all-around man of the mind Steven Pinker describes a particularly lean version of the idea: “Life is like chess, and plots are like those books of famous chess games that serious players study so they will be prepared if they ever find themselves in similar straits.” Pinker imagines that through story we each build a “mental catalogue” of strategic responses to life’s potential curveballs, which we can then consult in moments of need. From fending off devious tribesmen to wooing potential mates, to organizing collective hunts, to avoiding poisonous plants, to instructing the young, to apportioning meager food supplies, and so on, our forebears faced one obstacle after another as their genes sought a presence in subsequent generations. Immersion in fictional tales grappling with a wide assortment of similar challenges would have had the capacity to refine our forebears’ strategies and responses. Coding the brain to engage with fiction would thus be a clever way to cheaply, safely, and efficiently give the mind a broader base of experience from which to operate.

Once it had been simple. Civil rights supporters knew who their enemies were: special interests such as the real estate associations (who lobbied against the Mathias compromise for making something evil “palatable to the American people”). The lunatic far right (the executive director of the Liberty Lobby testified that King’s movement employed “mass brainwashing” just like “in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Communist Russia, and Communist China”). The old-line racist Dixie gargoyles (they kept on rehearsing for a revival of Birth of a Nation: Senator George Smathers wondering why “when a colored boy rapes a white girl, he gets off easier”; Representative William C. Cramer raising the specter of the “Social Security widow in my district” forced to rent to a black man—and you could almost picture the lusty young buck he had in mind). This opposition was predictable. The curveball was the new opposition: the Pucinskis and the Rostenkowskis; the Jerry Fords, moderate Republicans who used to be the backbone of every civil rights vote. Now, the Dixie gargoyles were gloating, an ancient piece of Southern political folk wisdom was receiving its vindication: that once civil rights bills started affecting North as much as South, it wouldn’t just be Southerners filibustering civil rights bills.

Post-Rehab Advice: 5 Things to Do After Getting Out of Rehab Getting yourself into rehab is not the easiest thing to do, but it is certainly one of the most important things you can ever do for your well-being. However, your journey to self-healing does not simply end on your last day at rehab. Now that you have committed your self to sobriety and wellness, the next step is maintaining the new life you have built. To make sure that you are on the right track, here are some tips on what you should do as soon as you get back home from treatment. 1. Have a Game Plan Most people are encouraged to leave rehab with a proper recovery plan. What’s next for you? Envision how you want yourself to be after the inpatient treatment. This is a crucial part of the entire recovery process since it will be easier to determine the next phase of treatment you need. 2. Build Your New Social Life Finishing rehab opens endless opportunities for you. Use it to put yourself out in the world and maybe even pursue a new passion in life. Keep in mind that there are a lot of alcohol- and drug-free activities that offer a social and mental outlet. Meet new friends by playing sports, taking a class or volunteering. It is also a good opportunity for you to have sober friends who can help you through your recovery. 3. Keep Yourself Busy One of the struggles after rehab is finding purpose. Your life in recovery will obviously center on trying to stay sober. To remain sober in the long term, you must have a life that’s worth living. What drives you? Begin finding your purpose by trying out things that make you productive and satisfied at the same time. Get a new job, do volunteer work or go back to school. Try whatever is interesting for you. 4. Pay It Forward As a person who has gone through rehab, you are in the perfect place to help those who are in the early stages of recovery. Join a support group and do not be afraid to tell your story. Reaching out to other recovering individuals will also help keep your mind off your own struggles, while being an inspiration to others. 5. Get Help If You’re Still Struggling Research proves that about half of those in recovery will relapse, usually within the treatment’s first few months. However, these numbers do not necessarily mean that rehab is a waste of time. Similar to those with physical disabilities who need continuous therapy, individuals recovering from addiction also require ongoing support to stay clean and sober. Are you slipping back to your old ways? Do not let pride or shame take control of your mind. Life throws you a curveball sometimes, and slipping back to old patterns does not mean you are hopeless. Be sure to have a sober friend, family, therapist or sponsor you could trust and call in case you are struggling. Remember that building a drug- and alcohol-free life is no walk in the park, but you will likely get through it with the help of those who are dear to you.

Life just gets you down. That is a fact. There is no changing that. But you can do something at least. Make the most of what you're given. If you're thrown a curve-ball, do your best to make the home-run. If they cheat, well you still work as hard as you can to hit that ball out of the park, reach the stars. Eventually the ball will come back down. Eventually you will have to do all of this again. This time, you have practice though. If you didn't hit it the first time, you know you need to adjust. If you did, you know exactly what to do this time. If you couldn't tell, this was not just about baseball. This was about dreams. Get out there. Go ace that test, Go make that touchdown, Go accomplish something, anything. Every little thing you do... will leave an impact on the world. These accomplishments could just be the stepping stones for an even greater imprint. Make your mark.

Life will always throw you curveballs. Some of them you duck and some you cannot. Accept Life for what it is, yet realize some of those balls You had to get hit with in order for you to learn, hurt, heal and grow.

You tell me. What can YOU tell ME about the company?” I’ll never forget the look on everyone’s face when I uttered those words. He looked at me with amusement, and I could tell I’d totally thrown him off guard. Like a Bawse. After a few minutes of him pitching the company to me (due to my curveball), he finally asked, “What do you want to achieve?” To this I responded with complete honesty. I said, “World domination,” with a straight face. After a beat—you know, for dramatic effect—I began to elaborate on everything I wanted to accomplish. There was so much presence in the room that the past and future started feeling insecure.

Michelle shrugged off Sam’s aggression. Her eyes misted with memories. “Our curveball was a brain tumor. A grade IV astrocytoma, to be specific. He tried all the treatments—chemo, radiation, even surgery. Nothing helped alleviate his symptoms or his suffering. He was dying in the most horrible way. Seizures, nausea, blinding headaches, memory loss like an Alzheimer’s patient. I didn’t know what it was like to watch someone I love suffer so much, but I can relate to Julie’s pain because the experience was utterly excruciating.

Life throws curve balls all the time. Have to know how to swing them.

My grandmother once said life is what happens between the curveballs and happy accidents.

A large horsefly accidentally flies directly into her oral cavity before she can speak. Outside in the air, this creature doesn’t seem that big, but from inside her mouth it feels like that giant flying reptile Rodan she once saw in a movie on cable. Her jaws are no match for this frightening pest, who, temporarily blinded in panic, begins biting her tongue with its tiny bloodsucking mouth. But Marsha is ready for any curveball nature might throw her. At first she considers spitting out this invasive monster, but then her reflexes take over and her snapping-turtle-like tongue, hidden behind her freshly glossed lips, rips the unwanted tormentor from the roof of her mouth, and with one bite of her cavity-free teeth, the execution of this pesky intruder is complete. Yes, she swallows.

Oh, it’s a whole genre. I’m pretty sure if half the dark romance readers were ever abducted, they’d cry if the police showed up and ruined their broody, twisty romance with their Mafia capo.

I didn’t know it was your family’s bakery. Then, I got this awful phone call from my dad, and he insinuated I was some gross plaything you were using. It’s offensive, you know? Um, yeah. If anything, I’d be your plaything.

Because that was what we were, essentially. Authors of our own stories. A curveball in the form of a dark twist had spilled onto Leah’s story, an ink-stained hole in her happily ever after, but she could still turn a corner. A page. She could still ride into the sunset with the prince with the shining tattoo sleeve. Not on a horse, but on a Harley.

The few people who know the details of our finances ask, “What are you saving for? A house? A boat? A new car?” No, none of those. I’m saving for a world where curveballs are more common than we expect. Not being forced to sell stocks to cover an expense also means we’re increasing the odds of letting the stocks we own compound for the longest period of time. Charlie Munger put it well: “The first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily.

MISTAKES AND CURVEBALLS YOU MUST LET YOUR KID EXPERIENCE19 • Not being invited to a birthday party • Experiencing the death of a pet • Breaking a valuable vase • Working hard on a paper and still getting a poor grade • Having a car break down away from home • Seeing the tree he planted die • Being told that a class or camp is full • Getting detention • Missing a show because she was helping Grandma • Having a fender bender • Being blamed for something he didn’t do • Having an event canceled because someone else misbehaved • Being fired from a job • Not making the varsity team • Coming in last at something • Being hit by another kid • Rejecting something he had been taught • Deeply regretting saying something she can’t take back • Not being invited when friends are going out • Being picked last for neighborhood kickball

God started it. Baked into the name “Israel” is this very idea of a divinely initiated wrestling match. And this name, “you have striven with God,” the ancient biblical storyteller claimed, was not one that the people of Israel chose for themselves but one God bestowed upon them . . . as a blessing. So, here is my late-blooming insight: perhaps wrestling with God is God-initiated and a blessing. Why is it a blessing? Because we never come out of that wrestling match as we entered. Wrestling with God may leave us limping, but it transforms our understanding of who God is. We see God better after the struggle.

I have found that the prompts to adjusting my understanding of God are all around me—literally. The very heavens are shouting them, and the word they are shouting most clearly is “mystery.

What is at stake is a faith that can actually remain sustainable and meaningful because it listens to the challenges of the present as we follow the God who is always out ahead of us, ready to surprise us.

Like a frail plant that needs careful tending and constant protection from sun and wind, perhaps the real problem wasn’t me but the fragile, unsustainable version of Christianity I had been told was my only option.

A God who does not connect to the world around us is a God who cannot speak to us. Believing in a God who demands that we continue to adopt only biblically ancient ways of thinking of God, which are themselves rooted in their own cultural moment, is to diminish God’s active presence here and now.

Does the God of Abraham look lovingly upon ancient cave drawings and temples dedicated to the only gods ancient humans could have known?

Placeholder theology is the very nature of theology. By it we acknowledge the human need to say something about ultimate meaning concerning the Creator and the creation while also understanding that what we say will never say it all.

It is up to you to identify your purpose in life and have the determination to keep moving forward and pursuing a meaningful life, even when life throws curveballs in your path.

Life throws curveballs, some might sting, but you'll weather the storm. Broken hearts mend, fortunes rebuild, and new opportunities bloom. Remember, you're like a mighty oak - rooted deep, enduring winds, and sprouting anew with each season.

see rainbows in rainstorms and opportunities in disasters. When life hands me lemons, I whip up a lemon meringue pie. Challenges? Just plot twists in my epic saga, and setbacks are setups for my grand comeback. Where others see roadblocks, I see shortcuts to awesomeness. My glass isn’t just half full; it’s practically overflowing with optimism. So, while the world tosses curveballs, I’m here with my metaphorical bat, ready to hit them out of the park and do a victory dance.

Calculus is the mathematics of change. It describes everything from the spread of epidemics to the zigs and zags of a well-thrown curveball. The subject is gargantuan—and so are its textbooks.

Life may have thrown us both some incredibly difficult curveballs, but it brought us to one another. We’ve fought like hell to be here, and we will continue fighting, because that’s what you do when you find something this incredibly rare.

When the universe throws you a curveball, just think of it as a cosmic pop quiz. It's like, "Hey, are you paying attention? Let's see how well you can juggle life's surprises!" So, instead of stressing out, channel your inner superhero and show the universe who's boss. Remember, you're not just a player in this game of life; you're the MVP, ready to tackle any challenge with style and sass. So, bring it on, universe!

My takeaway from the day was that I needed to enjoy every moment with my family. You never knew what curveball life was going to throw your way.

The lights are bright, and the stage is set. It has always been our dream to do this together.” Maddox let out a wry laugh. “We might not have pictured it in this dynamic, but I think we’ve both been on the receiving end of life’s curveballs as of late.

You can live your life on purpose with a sense of identity and direction, or you can just show up every day and try to hit life’s curveballs.

I have a quiet, obstinate belief that if you have a dream, you’re the only person who can make it happen. But I also know that, no matter how dedicated you are, at any second life can throw you a curveball and that there are other factors at play, such as timing, luck and opportunity, too. So, if you’ve ever wondered about that long-shot idea you have, that you’ve always pushed to the back of your mind, what do you have to lose? It’s worth taking a leap of faith for the simple reason that, unless you try, you’ll never know…

But the part where you had to teach your kids that life could throw curveballs and you had to dig deep to find it in you to adjust was a part of that shit.

Life has the habit of throwing curve balls to determine if you are paying attention.

I mean, he did say vagina, didn’t he? And if he did, then how come it sounded so exciting? Vagina is pretty much the least exciting word in the world. It’s something your doctor says to you shortly before he invades it with what looks like a weapon from our robotic future.

When you use life's curve balls to create positive energy, you cultivate a Don't Die® spirit that powers you through moment by moment so that you live your life to the fullest until the very end.

Life threw you curveballs, too. Or in her case, more like a curseball. After

Hi, Dale, it’s Gabby...Clay’s girlfriend.”  It felt weird giving myself that title, but I pushed it aside.  Bigger issues to deal with.  “If he’s there, can I talk to him?” Dale chuckled.  “Sure, but I don’t imagine it’d be much of a conversation.” I heard him call out to Clay.  A moment later, a husky voice said, “Hello?” After not talking to me for so long, hearing his voice startled and annoyed me slightly.  He would talk to a perfect stranger, but not me?  I opened my mouth to say something about it, but the pain in my head insistently prodded me to get on with the important news. “Clay, I did it again.  I’m at the diner where we had breakfast.  I need you to come get me before it gets worse.” He didn’t say anything for so long that I looked at the phone to see if I still had a signal.  The screen said disconnected.  Would it have killed him to say “Okay” or maybe even “Bye” before hanging up?  His hello had been too shocking to recall the sound of his voice. I sighed and put my cell away.  With Sam’s frequent calls and Rachel’s occasional texts, my remaining minutes dipped into the double digits.  I needed to adjust my budget to buy more airtime.  Did life really need to throw me this many curveballs?  And all at once? I forced myself to eat more of my mostly untouched meal so the waitress wouldn’t bother me as I waited. The last of the waves hit me.  Only determination and a hand over my mouth kept me from whimpering.  After about ten minutes, I settled the bill and watched out the window for Clay, barely checking the need to curl into a ball and lie down on the padded bench.  The waitress kept a close eye on me, probably thinking she would need to clean up barf soon.  She might. Dale’s huge tow truck pulled into the parking lot.  Clay opened his door and leapt out while it still rolled to a stop.  Through the window, he spotted me.  His eyes never left me as he strode in and Dale pulled away. Clay still wore his greasy coveralls, and with his hair pulled back, he looked like an angel—a grimy one—coming to save me.  Again. “Hi,

His weight increases from 165 pounds to 185 pounds. The collar size goes from 15 to 17 1/2, the chest from 40 to 44. His appetite expands beyond measure. Before he was constantly napping. Now he has enough energy for daily workouts and strict work schedules. Before, depression was a regular feature. Now, it is a 'distant memory'. With the testosterone shots, he feels better to recover from life's curveballs, more persistant, more alive. There

Sometimes life throws you a curveball, something you never saw coming. We have to make decisions about whether we want to be true to ourselves or honorable to those we love.

Acceptance is a pretty cool destination. If you haven’t realized it yet, acceptance is pretty much the answer to all of life’s little curveballs.

Life does have a tendency to throw us curveballs, and they have a perverse way of coming at the most inconvenient times.

WHY IT’S BAD TO BE SINGLE: (An itemized list of undisputable evidence)   1. Outside my parents and my sister and her family, I have no family or children of my own.   2. I have no immediate support system to come home to, when life throws its challenges and curveballs.   3. I’m lonely.   4. I have no one to go to parties or special events with. When big events happen—even when they’re good—I walk in alone.   5. I never get to take advantage of the “two people can combine resources and live together cheaper than apart” deal.    6. No one loves me.  (My mother’s love doesn’t count in this case. Sorry, Mom!)   7. There’s this constant question about many guys I meet: is he the one? Is he worth dating? The search feels never-ending.   8. There’s the continuing heartbreak of liking guys who have no interest in me. (This happens a lot!)   9. I can be selfish sometimes because there isn’t that person to care for daily, whose needs are above my own (spouse or children).   10. There isn’t anyone to cuddle with, enjoy affections with, sleep beside (or let’s be honest—have sex with).