When Life Throws a Curveball

**“If everything went as planned, life would be boring” That is why sometimes life will throw a curveball, at you… to make it more interesting**

Contest Master, Fellow curveball survivors and Toastmasters

Last week, I took my daughter Ellie to her favorite donut store.

But when we arrived at the store, it was closed.

**[Acting, turn to the side]**

She looked up at me, confused. “What happened to the donut store?” [softer tone for girl]

“It’s closed today. Looks like we’ll have to come back again tomorrow.”

In an instant, the mood changed, her facial expression changed, from a smiley face to an anguish face (show the faces). “But I want donuts now. Now”

She burst into tears, crying and screaming. No matter what I said, she wouldn’t stop. I stood there and sighed. ”Why would the Universe send a devil like this to my life?“

**Suddenly**, a flashback came rushing through my mind.

[Go to right side]

Back in 2017, I got married to my beautiful wife.  ****Like most married couples, we want to have children.  Because we got married at old age, it didn’t come as easy as we expected.  After several failed attempts and miscarriages in a year, eventually we decided to see a doctor.

I still remember the first day we sat in the doctor’s office and he looked at us and looked at the chart, and he said, “You guys know that the chances of conceiving in the age of 20s is about 90%. In your 30s, about 50% or less, and for you guys in your late 30s, you have less than 5% of success. “

[Turn to side when talking]

“What does that mean Doctor? What can we do?”

“Well, it’s not impossible. We’ll just have to work together.”

So we did.  After several months of doctor visits, blood tests, vitamins, and medications, my wife was finally **pregnant**.

I still remember that first-month ultrasound exam. The doctor pointed to the screen and said, "That's the baby."

Confused, I asked, "Where?"

He smiled and said, "That tiny moving white spot right there." It was a great relief for both of us.  I turned to look at my wife, and her face was covered in the tears of joy.  We did it.

At the third-month exam, this is where the doctor used a 3D ultrasound for a thorough health check. “That’s the head, nose, left hand, five fingers; right hand, five fingers; left foot, five toes…” he continued, examining the baby's features. We were completely immersed in joy.

But just as everything seemed to be moving smoothly, a **curveball** came our way. [Baseball action]

Suddenly, the doctor became quiet. He glanced repeatedly between his charts and the monitor, clearly concerned.

“Doctor, what's wrong?” I asked anxiously.

“The blood test results came back showing **genetic abnormalities**,” he explained gently. "And it seems the baby's heart rate is slowing down."

I could barely process his words. “What does that mean?”

“It means, unfortunately, the baby is **dying**.”

I felt confused and shocked. How could this be happening to us? We’ve tried so hard.  I turned to my wife and saw her face was already covered in tears.

“Unfortunately, we'll need to induce labor soon," the doctor continued. "It’s not healthy for you to carry a dying baby."

That night, my wife and I held each other and cried, we felt both helpless and heartbroken.

We had the procedure done that weekend, and we found ourselves back to square one. it felt like we'd been **hit** by not one, but a hundred curveballs all at once. We were defeated and knocked down to the ground.

For months, we barely spoke. Finally, one day my wife approached me, saying quietly, “Listen, I don’t think I can have children. Maybe we should divorce so you can start fresh with someone else.”

Her words left me speechless. I could sense frustration in her words.

Without saying a word, I hugged her tightly.

“It’s okay, honey. Maybe the universe is playing tricks on us, but whether we have children or not, you're stuck with me. **Why don’t we grab some ice cream**?” Say this in a sweet manner. [softer tone for my wife]

Maybe that ice cream had some sweet magic in it.  We decided to move forward.  From that day on, NO MORE stressful doctor visits and decided to simply enjoy life together for just the two of us. We went out for dinners, movies and traveled like we used to do.   For the first time in a long time, our life was back on track.

Just when everything seemed to be back normal, life threw us another curveball.

Six months later, my wife was pregnant again.  This time we stayed quiet, holding our breath as we passed the one-month mark, then three, then six months. Finally, on the day our daughter was born, I held my daughter in my arms, trembling.  I looked at my wife and said, “Universal finally threw us a good curveball this time.  What a beautiful angel we have here.” It was truly the happiest moment for both of us.

Just when I believed that life threw us a good curveball, 4 years later, I was staring at a crying 4 year old, I took a deep breath,