Sometimes, Life throws you a curve ball...

Sometimes, Life throws you a curve ball...

Sometimes, Life throws you a curve ball, which completely blindsides you, leaving you frozen in your tracks, as the strike is inevitably called.

Sometimes, Life hangs that curveball, allowing you to slap into left center field for a base hit.

Sometimes, Life fires a fastball straight down the middle of the plate, which you see, recognize and still barely manage to foul off, straight back to the screen.

Sometimes, Life comes inside to back you off a bit and manages to brush the sleeve of your jersey, sending you painlessly to first base.

Sometimes, Life goes low and outside, coaxing you into an ugly, off-balance swing that misses anyway and leaves you in a weird, crazy and embarrassing bent over stance, which you quickly straighten from and try to play off.

Sometimes, Life tosses you a series of random, terrible pitches which you easily take for balls and find yourself trotting to first base with barely a twitch of your bat.

Sometimes, Life throws you a change up that looks so much like a fast ball that, for a brief second, you really, truly cannot figure out what happened to the impact on that swing.

Sometimes, Life has you down 0 and 2 and steps off the slab for a third throw to first on a guy who isn't trying to steal anyway and you just want to run up to the mound and beat Life with your bat.

Sometimes, Life knows you're coming, and intentionally walks the guy in front of you, because Life is truly not worried about what you can do...

Sometimes, Life just doesn't have it and you feel kind of bad for Life as you blast Life's 3-1 fastball-up over the right field wall.

Sometimes, Life throws you a nasty backdoor slider which induces the 1 second mental dialogue, "That's outside...outside...wait, it's moving...outside! Outside! OUTSIDE!...no, no, ok, swing...no, don't...no, swing!...SWING!...aw crap." (strike called.)

Sometimes, Life strikes you out on three straight off-speed pitches because you are just so damn sure that a fastball is coming.

Sometimes, Life's seemingly perfect strikes are being inexplicably called balls and you have to struggle not to laugh at the funny faces Life is making at the umpire.

Sometimes, Life knocks you out of the game with a knee high pitch that is just a bit too inside. (ouch!) Sometimes, you knock Life out of the game with a bases-clearing triple to the right field corner. Either way, you'll both be back.

Sometimes, Life throws you a gimme fastball straight down the center of the strike zone, after slider, after slider, after slider and suddenly your Triple Crown doesn't mean quite as much as you strike out looking to end the World Series.

But, through it all, the important thing to remember is that, no matter what Life is going to throw you, you are really lucky just to be playing the game. As there are many people in many places who do not have the opportunity that you do...who never even get an at-bat. So, you owe it to all of them to face whatever Life throws and do your best, because, no matter how it plays out, you are still playing the game.

Sometimes, Life throws you a curve ball...and if you work hard, practice and manage to see it coming...you can hit it.