“A Ship in Harbor Is Safe, But that Is Not What Ships Are Built For” -John Shedd

Late Wednesday evening I tidied up my desk, put my access card in my supervisor’s desk drawer and walked out of the Washington State Patrol headquarters for the last time. After two and half years, another chapter in my working life comes to an end.

I am still a little incredulous at how I ended up working on databases for the State Patrol. The very moment I stepped off Galapagos at her new home in Olympia, the phone rang asking me to come in for an interview. That was in September of 2020; the depths of COVID times and everyone was scrambling to sort out a new normal. Fortunately, adaptability is a super power one acquires living aboard a sailboat in Mexico.

Remember the Good Old Days?  All masked up (except for Asha!) during a software release.

For the first year and half, I was one of a handful of people that came into the office daily; Everyone was teleworking and only a few managers would show up from time to time. Because I lived so close by, it was more convenient to work in the office. Plus the building is beautiful and my office was very comfortable. So I would work all day, Zooming with my co-workers in an office with no one in it.

The Helen Sommers building where I worked. A beautiful space makes coming into the office a lot easier.

Lucky for me that I got to work with a team of great people that were so patient and helpful as I came up to speed on the various projects. It was a good match; my experience developing databases merged with the State Patrol’s multi-year effort to modernize their records systems. It was fulfilling work in a way I had not expected. I re-wrote their Missing and Unidentified Persons database and developed tools to export the data to other agencies. But it was also hard to see the stories of people’s lives gone terribly wrong. Human tragedy reduced to a record in a table.

Rest easy, citizens. We have our TOP people working to protect you.

I am so grateful to my managers and co-workers that made my time at the State Patrol so enjoyable.  Even during COVID, the energy and comradery in our group made work a pleasure.  Thank you all.

Many, but not all of the crew that keeps the data flowing for the State Patrol.

Now my full time job is working to put the finishing touches on Galapagos so that we can begin cruising the Salish Sea this summer and head to Vancouver Island and beyond. We will move back aboard sometime this month and yet another transition will begin. I have to remind myself that farewells, hard and scary as they sometimes are, always imply a new beginning; a chance to set dreams in motion and bring them to reality.