This morning (Thursday) my shift started at 6:00am . . . and so I was up at 5am, planning to be out the door by 5:22am to catch the 5:27am tram.  But I was ready 10 minutes earlier than expected . . . and so I decided to check ‘Tram Tracker’ to see if the 5:19am was running.  And I’m SO glad I did, because that was when I discovered that the next tram to arrive was not for 27 minutes . . . a quick calculation in my head confirmed that my 5:27am was not running this morning.

The next tram would be at 5:39am . . . getting me to my work stop at 5:49am, from where I then have to walk 10 minutes, catch a lift up several floors, to collect the keys, to then run up a floor, to unlock and open up my department, and get changed into my scrubs . . . all by 6:00am.  Hmm . . . with a big day ahead and a few extra things to prepare as ‘worded up’ by my Anaesthetist the night before . . . I needed to gather every minute possible.  How was I going to do this? . . . I could drive! But I don’t have a staff car park card that enables me to park for $17, so that means I’d have to pay $35.  And then I remembered . . . .

. . .  back two weeks ago on a Friday . . . in preparing for the following Monday’s operating list, my surgeon had an appointment he had to get to and so in order to make that happen, it was all arranged that on Monday we would start at 630am.

This meant that on Monday I had to be at work by 530am . . .which means leaving home at 5am . . . which means getting up at 445am.  Thankfully one of my colleagues knowing I travel by tram, prompted me as to how I would get to work in time for that.  And thankfully another of my colleagues was right there to provide the solution for this.  ‘Pay Stay’ is the parking app I had to download in order to park at the location I was advised to . . . and given the hour of the day . . . there would be no issue of availability.

Come Monday morning . . . I was up and out the door . . . and on my way to work.  I found my street and parked in the very first space . . . prime location!  I keyed in the parking code and my rego into the parking app and set it to start . . . how convenient is all of this!  No need for coins and dashboard tickets anymore!  Then I set off on foot for work . . . a 10 minute walk away.  Then at the end of my shift I returned to my car, hit stop on the parking app, and it deducted $6.92  . . . the exact amount of funds for my time, and Voila!  How easy was that!

Now come forward to today on this Thursday morning . . . knowing where to park and how to use the app, I was confident of my journey.  Arriving at work, collecting the keys, unlocking my department, changing into my scrubs . . . it was a smooth process  . . . and I was on time.

And so I now realised . . . in hindsight . . .

The ’why’ behind the ’what for’. . .  ‘when it happened’ and ‘how come?’

The reason Why: I had to have such an early start on that Monday morning previous . . .

What for: so I could learn and discover my ‘parking’ need, and have opportunity to get the info from my colleagues (on the Friday prior) in preparation for it.

When it happened: Monday’s planned extra early shift had to happen before Thursday’s unplanned tram absence.

How come: because if it had been in reverse, the parking location and ‘Pay Stay’ app I used on Thursday due to the absence of my tram, I would not have come to know about until Friday in preparation for Monday’s planned extra early start.  Or if you like . . . I needed Friday first, so I could prepare for Monday, which would save me on Thursday.

And so I can see the ‘order’ of it all . . . and why it had to happen the way that it did.

So that everything could work out in my favour!

The order was perfect.   Any other order would have been the wrong way around.

While at the time of it, I didn’t like the extra early Monday start . . . but it was because I had forewarning of it on the Friday before, that I was able to plan and prepare for it.  Then this morning, I was now feeling SO grateful for that extra early Monday start . . . because it prepared me to know what to do today (Thursday) . . . when faced with that which I had not known was ahead . . . the absent tram!  And because of that . . . I was on time, my day went smoothly, and without any outrageous parking price to pay for being unprepared.  $8.80 hurts a lot less than $35.

Life: It is a process!  Understand it not? 

But doubt it less, and tighten its knot!

Life IS a process!  And while we don’t always understand it, we need to doubt the order of the process less, and hold on tight until we get to the other side of it.

Trust the order of it all.  Be confident on the journey.  Knowing that you have been / or will be equipped with what you need at the right time, for the right situation.

Sometimes we don’t know what we know until we see the events in hindsight.  And then we have the answer as to why it had to happen that way.

And while there may still be a cost . . .  it’s nowhere near what it could have been.