“One of the great cosmic laws, I think, is that whatever we hold in our thought will come true in our experience. When we hold something, anything, in our thought, then somehow coincidence leads us in the direction that we've been wishing to lead ourselves.”

Richard Bach

While I consider myself relatively travel savvy, I have a curious knack for finding the wrong SIM card. I got to the airport and had to choose a pre-paid, between Telstra, Optus and vodaphone. I knew that one of them had fucked me over last time and I thought it was vodaphone, so I went with Telstra. To my horror after purchasing and entering the card, I had realized I made the same mistake again.

Instead of trying to sort out logistics over a 12 hour layover (yes that is what I did last time) I decided to bus into town (couldn’t catch an uber with no service) and figure it out! I got to the bus stop, which happened to be kitty corner the cafe I used to work in, once called ‘Atlas’ now called ‘The Stagg.’ To my surprise, my former boss was outside. He was packing up his letter board, which he used to, and still does, write corny dad jokes on. It took him a moment to recognize me, but when he did, he went ‘Hey, wait a moment. I thought you were gone.’ I smiled at the recognition and stated, ‘Well, I am back. It’s been five years John!’

We laughed, exchanged pleasantries, and he pointed me towards the Telstra store. Once I arrived at what should-have-been the Telstra store, I was given a map to where a temporary store was being set-up. I ALMOST threw in the towel and went to Vodaphone to get the SIM card I knew would suffice, but I persevered and found the second store. I was met politely, set to wait in a waiting room, and settled in.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to trust people in phone shops. It looks like they are on their phones wasting time and have no intention of actually helping me. I waited for 20 minutes before a fellow wait-room person joined me. We smiled at each other, my jet lag slowly kicking in, and began to exchange more pleasantries. She asked enough questions to quickly get to ‘Why are you HERE?’ Which is a question I love because it means I have found places where people don’t meet many people like me from.

I told her about my Deep Ecology workshop, and she told me about the climate communications job she had just landed, and we truly had a lovely chat, and then it was my turn to get my phone sorted out. After all had been sorted fairly easily, with the exception of having to dodge a false charge and with absolutely no trace of being apologetic from the Telstra staff, I said goodbye to my new friend who happened to also be Hannah.

I asked her where she would go to get a beer (it was 3pm by this point) and she suggested a bar called The Alabama Hotel, which just so happened to be the new project of old friends who I had first stayed with when I landed in Hobart so many years ago. I knew the chances were slim to see them, but so were the chances of Hannah suggesting this bar amidst the many, so I said goodbye and wandered over.

I deeply believe in universal timing, though I rarely admit it because I hate getting lumped into woo-woo camps. I think that things that are meant to happen, will, whether we give them that reason or not, and when they do I take it as a sign that I am moving along the right path.

*I want to throw a disclaimer here that this statement can be extremely isolating to marginalized communities who are up against hundreds of years of systemic oppression that stand in the way of them being able to move about the world as freely as my privilege affords me. I do not think that everything happens for a reason and that many bad things happen that are direct implications of the system, not someone’s karma/ to be taken as a sign*

On my path on this day, I just so happen to waltz into the Hotel Bar, minutes after my friend Ema had started her shift. ‘Fuck off’ she said as she looked at me, registered it was me, and came in for a hug. I have always loved the tenderness contrast between what Australians say and display. This greeting meant I was home. I ordered a beer and we caught up and I talked about my plant shop and the logistics of America. She shared her story and the sale of two businesses and how well this one was doing. All the while, I was grateful I had had the misfortune of Telstra to lead me to Hannah to lead me to here.

I will never take for granted the beauty it is to connect with friends across cultures and around the world. To be known by name, and to feel as though the friendship can pick up after such a vast expanse of time. I savored every sip of the beer, hugged Ema goodbye, and headed for the bus and my consequent shower. I live for tiny coincidences, and it felt good to have so many flooding in all at once.