Here’s this week’s story:

Title: Saying Goodbye to Chrome
Story:
I started out in the Chrome team around 2008. It’s hard to nail down the exact date because I worked for Sundar for a while before that and there was no official transfer date. One day I was on the Mac team and also supporting Gears and next thing I know I was the PM for Mac, Linux and ChromeFrame.

I remember joining Sundar’s org and hearing about Chrome day and night and feeling like it was Sundar’s special baby. I used it and I didn’t think there was anything special about it. I remember wondering why he thought it was all that magical and why he thought it was going to be so important.

And he was so right.

As it turned out, Chrome is awesome. I mean the single best product I’ve worked on so far in my life. I’ve loved the product, the team, the management, the users, the work, all of it. Of course, there were many things I didn’t like. Many things I didn’t understand and likely never would, but still, I’ve loved Chrome for such a long time, now. It’s been something I’m incredibly proud to be a part of. Something I’ve felt a strong sense of belonging with and something that’s felt so very familiar.

And yet. The last few years have also had a lot of tough moments. I’ve had times where I felt I was no longer learning, I was no longer inspired by my own work, I was feeling frustrated and trapped. And I don’t want to feel any of those things. I was scared to move. I knew how special Chrome was and I knew there was a high chance I’d regret moving. But the things I wanted to change weren’t really going to for a long time. So since they were here to stay, I had to figure another way out.

So I made the tough decision to finally say goodbye. It mostly fell on my lap. It started with an email from Caesar, went to Ryan and then randomly ended up on Holly’s lap. And I churned and churned and followed an instinct that I am still not sure of but it felt brave. (Let’s see if it still does a year from now or if it will feel stupid.)

It was time to move on but I know I will miss it dearly and I am so thankful to Chrome.

Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Here’s this week’s story:

Title: Breast Stroke Ribbon
Story:
I remember the first time we ever took you swimming, David. You were five years old and I was worried that we’d waited so long that you would be completely scared of water and never want to go in. All of my friends had taken their kids swimming for years but we’d listened to our pediatrician who said to wait till you were five.

So we did. But even though I listened to him, I was still worried that somehow I’d messed up and you’d be permanently scarred from my mistake.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. You went to your class, saw the pool and jumped right in. You played with the teacher and all of his toys. You had no problem going under the water. You had the time of your life.

I can’t tell you how relieved I was watching you have so much fun. Once we started, we never stopped having you take lessons. Even though, you’ve only had a 30minute lesson shared across four people, once a week, you still slowly managed to progress through each of the strokes.

You started with freestyle and then moved on to backstroke, which I think is still your favorite. And then you began learning breast stroke. At first, it felt so weird that you said you’d never be able to figure it out. It was so different from the other two. You didn’t kick in the same way. It seemed tough to coordinate your legs and hands at the same time. Since Daddy was the one who took you swimming each week, I never really got to see your progress; just the words you said when you came home each week. And you’re not known for being the most optimistic one in the family.

So I had no idea how close you were to actually getting your ribbon. And of course, it ended up coinciding with a day where we were in a rush and had to leave early. You were devastated not to get to pick it up after having done so much work. But, after the party we were committed to, we went back to the swim school and not only did you get your ribbon but you got to have your picture taken, too.

I love seeing that huge smile on your face, my son, I am so proud of you!

Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.