The music was cranked up, colorful lights were glowing beneath the hay wagon, and somewhere among the laughter, my four year old granddaughter Emery had convinced her little sister Autumn and cousin Isla that they should all be roaring like lions.

And roar they did!

“Close your eyes, girls. Buzzy has a surprise!”

There I stood with two pink unicorns hidden behind my back, waiting for Emery and Autumn to open their eyes. I could hardly contain my excitement because I had a feeling these weren't going to be just another pair of toys. Oh no, these two magical creatures were about to become the newest members of our very own cavalry!

There we were, five grown women pushing, pulling, tugging, and grunting as we attempted to move a very heavy golf cart out of a bed of rocks. Every time we thought we were making progress, we'd have to turn the wheel, reposition ourselves, and try again. We were laughing, but let me tell you, we were also working up a sweat!

How in the world did we get ourselves into this predicament?

“Hey Sally, you’ll want to aim just right of the hole.”

It was the first hole of our final day at a four day women’s golf retreat in Edgerton, Wisconsin, and I was standing on the green with three other women, including my longtime friend Marilyn. The moment I heard her offer that simple piece of advice to Sally, it all came streaming back to me. She had done the same thing last year. Not just for me, but for others. And before we even finished that first hole, I was about to experience it myself.

Rain was falling again on the third morning of my four day women's golf retreat in Edgerton, Wisconsin. Our 9:34 am tee time had been pushed back, and none of us knew exactly when we'd be able to get onto the course. So we waited. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, word came that it was time to go. Get your clubs outside!

I watched the ball fly across the green.

Then, it was hit back again to the other side of the green.

At this point, I'm not sure any of us knew whether to laugh, cry, or simply pick up the darn ball and move on to the next hole. I’m happy to report, we chose laughter.

I stopped in my tracks.

There, beside a fire in a tiny gold mining camp in Alaska, was a large heart shaped rock. Not tucked away somewhere I had been searching. Not something I had to turn over or study closely to decide whether it resembled a heart. It was simply there, in plain sight, almost perfectly placed as if waiting for me to walk around the back of those wooden benches and notice it.

I've always believed in signs.

It was 95 degrees, humid, and somewhere just down the road thousands of people were gathering for Country Thunder.

Perfect conditions for our very first farmers market, right?

If you've been following my blog, you may remember the secret I revealed earlier this year. My daughter Hannah, her boyfriend Lorenzo, and I started Stay Dirty Italian Soda Co., a mobile beverage business built around colorful Italian sodas, fun flavors, and the idea of creating an experience that makes people smile.

The water rushed through Ketchikan Creek with a force I could see and hear as I stood watching hundreds, then thousands, of pink salmon moving through the water. Some seemed to hover for a moment, gathering strength, while others propelled themselves forward with everything they had. Again and again, I watched them attempt to move upstream, only to have the current push them backward.

And then they would try again.

For the first twenty minutes, we saw nothing.

My friend Trina and I were on a whale watching excursion during the cruise portion of our recent Alaska trip, scanning the water and hoping for some sign that the whales were nearby. Our tour actually came with a money back guarantee that we would see whales, but as our boat continued across the water without a single sighting, I started wondering if we might be collecting on that promise.

Then our captain spotted something in the distance. A spout.