As I have no doubt mentioned on numerous occasions, I believe that life is filled with magical moments. I think that they are happening around us all the time, even when we don’t notice them. It’s the noticing that is a key to joyful living. You can only notice the magic when you believe it is there in the first place, but once you begin you start seeing it everywhere that you look.

Sometimes I refer to a moment as magical simply because it has inspired an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. Other times I am speaking of situations that I could have never orchestrated by my own hand (which inevitably evokes the aforementioned response). This is the story of one such occurrence.

It happened almost exactly 3 years ago, the first week of May 2018. I drove to Savannah Georgia for a hurricane relief concert and my friend Cindie made plans to meet me there since she lived only a few hours away. Cindie is one of my soul sisters. Like me, and the other women that make up my close circle, she is a believer in “impossible things.”

Cindie adores planning travels and arranging adventures. It lights her up to share those experiences with the people that she loves. You cannot help but get caught up in her enthusiasm. It is contagious! So, when she suggested spending a couple of days after the fundraiser doing some exploring in the Savannah area, I was all for it.

We spent one day checking out Jekyll Island and St. Simons. We wandered the most incredible driftwood beach I’ve ever seen and enjoyed a wonderful sunset dinner on the pier. The next morning we made our way to Tybee Island. Initially it was just going to be a daytime excursion followed by the drive back to Cindie’s house. However, when we hopped onto the only road off the island late in the afternoon we were met with standstill traffic.

This wasn’t your typical beach traffic. These cars weren’t crawling. They were at a complete halt for as far as you could see! After a substantial passage of time, Cindie called me from her vehicle a few cars ahead. If we were going to be waylaid for a while, we both agreed it made more sense to go back and wait it out in town or at the beach.

We got out of line and made our way to a cute little restaurant where we were able to gather some intel from the bartender. It turned out there was an accident blocking the road and it would likely be a while longer before it would be cleared.

It soon became clear that we would be stuck making most of our drive at night, which wasn’t ideal.  After a quick call to her husband, Cindie made the executive decision that we should just find a hotel and stay the night. The unexpected stay had us feeling a bit like the Universe was giving us a little gift. Little did we know the wonder that was in store.

One of the many other passions that Cindie and I share is the art of beachcombing. There is something intrinsically joyful in searching for treasure, especially when it includes sand between your toes and water lapping up on the shore next to you. We were thrilled to realize that our unexpected stay would allow us to do so while catching an extra sunset and sunrise!

We arranged for a place to stay, then darted back to the beach for a stunning sunset treasure hunt. Early into our stroll along the shore Cindie stumbled across a small pink toy dolphin amongst a pile of shells. She smiled as she showed me her find (now we had “seen” a dolphin during our beach trip). We both discovered a few other gems to delight in, but I kept finding small yellow (my favorite color) pieces that I just knew must be from the most beautiful shells and I remained hopeful that I would find one intact.

As we walked back down the beach towards the car, I just kept repeating my hope and eventually announced to Cindie that the next morning I was determined to find my elusive yellow shell. She smiled mischievously at me and made her own proclamation, “Well, tomorrow I am going to come back and find me a yellow dolphin.” We both had a good giggle and went on our way.

The next morning it was still dark when the alarm went off. As I explained last month in “Spring Forward,” I am not ordinarily a big fan of early hours and alarms, but this day was an exception. I was excited to walk the beach at sunrise with one of my dearest friends, and I was eagerly anticipating the discovery of my desired prize (especially since I didn’t really know exactly what I was looking for besides the color).

As we groggily parked and got out of the car we could just start to see pink in the sky as we looked towards the ocean. We slowly shuffled along the short boardwalk over the dunes. We reached the other side, took our first few steps towards the water, and there immediately in front of us, lying in the sand at our feet, was a YELLOW DOLPHIN!

You can’t make this stuff up!

I believe with every fiber of my being that moments like these are meant to inspire us! We are meant to be reminded that “impossible things” ARE POSSIBLE! We are part of something big and beautiful and interconnected somehow.

For some, these experiences are answered prayers. For others, these are manifestations. For others still, this is merely coincidence. I just like to call it all magic.

(And yes, I did find a couple different yellow shells.)