This struck me as a something to share on my blog in how I have lived my life by this mantra.

How many times has life thrown you a curve ball–a serous doozey? How many times have you felt like staying in bed in the morning and puling the covers over your head?

We’ve all experienced it, right?

When I sat and reflected on the statement “It doesn’t matter that you get knocked down in life. All that matters is that you get back up.” I have to say, a moment flashed back to me from a specific day, July 6, 2012, to be exact. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and my husband and I decided to leave work a little bit early and go see a movie. We went in and saw “Snow White and the Huntsman”…which we both really enjoyed. I did something that day, which I typically never do: I left my cell phone in the car. When we got in the car, I checked my phone and saw I had 8 missed phone calls and 4 new messages. I looked at the recent calls and saw they were all from 863 area code…which is a Florida area code. Initially, I was concerned, and not alarmed–my mom lived in Florida at the time. I dialed into my voice mail and experienced one of those curve balls of life. The first message was from a gentleman that was the maintenance supervisor at my mom’s apartment complex and shared “Hi, Dortha, this is (I honestly don’t recall his name now) from the Laurel Oaks Senior Apartments. I am calling because we had to dispatch 911 to your Ms. Velma’s apartment.” Now at this point, I’m ok, figuring that my mom had maybe had a fall or something else to perhaps injure herself–however, nothing could have prepared me for what came next: “I regret to inform you that your mom has deceased.”

Seriously?

On a voice mail?

I immediately hung up the phone and sat in disbelief. My husband, Jason, who was driving us home, asked me what happened. I shared “He said my mom has died.” Jason asked me to play the message back again. I dialed back in, still in complete disbelief and heading toward shock. We listened to the voicemail and the subsequent message from the local Sheriff and then a message from my half sister asking me to connect with her and I can’t tell you who the fourth and final message was from. As I sat in the passenger seat of my husband’s truck, I really can’t say what I felt…tears did not come, panic did not ensue. It was more of an overall feeling of disbelief. My mom was 63 years old…I had talked to her that week…it seemed so surreal.

So yes, that was a huge curve ball that life threw me in July…I have decided that I would take my entire experience and write a book about it–so that’s how I’m channeling the energy of getting knocked, quite frankly, on my butt, and dusting myself off and moving forward. I feel the message I have to share is a BIG one and there are a lot of people who need to hear it.

How about for you? Have you had a life curve ball thrown at you? Feel free to share your experience as well. Do you live by this mantra? Are you willing to if you’re not already?