This morning beneath the brightening sky, I walked the few blocks from my weekday home in Olympia to the Washington State Capitol and my new job as a state representative. Usually, the mornings are shrouded in fog. I keep my eyes on the Capitol dome and let the light that shines from the top guide my way.

Nearly 50 years ago, on a school field trip to the Capitol, I recall standing near the state seal on the floor of the rotunda and listening to the sounds of voices and footsteps echo through the airy main foyer and bounce off high marble walls.

Today, I work in the Capitol Building. Every day I have the same thrill I felt as a child walking up the grand staircase. There are the fun and historic things to know about the Capitol. There are urban legends like connecting tunnels. There are a couple of obscure, narrow and dark granite staircases that are a claustrophobic’s nightmare. Who knew all the chandeliers at the Capitol were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany? Who knew that in the mornings the entire first floor smells like bacon from the basement cafeteria?

As a schoolgirl from Kirkland long ago, I didn’t think I would ever be a part of our state government. I didn’t know what it would mean to work in the people’s house and for our great state.

In my new job, I am constantly on my toes. There are a huge number of people to know and issues to learn. As mayor of Kirkland, I worked with a team of seven. Here in Olympia, I am on a team with 146 colleagues, and those are just the legislators.

Every 15 minutes a new meeting takes place in my office and the topics vary from food insecurity to articulated tug-barges to mental health law.  The sheer number of issues is overwhelming, but each is deserving. And I am never too busy for my constituents. In fact, I am delighted when my calendar shows the next meeting is with constituents from our great 48th District.

When I do have a moment between meetings, I think about what a privilege it is to be here. This will be a tough legislative session, some say the most critical one in decades. Education, transportation, mental health, economic development – all are critically important issues and there are no easy answers. And in Olympia, although there are many shared values, there are many opposing political views. Still, I am optimistic. The grandeur of our Capitol, the history that resides here, call us, as lawmakers, to get the people’s work done, justly and with haste.

As I walk through these halls, I have the same feelings I did as a schoolgirl five decades ago, but once I get to my office, I roll up my sleeves and get to work. And if the day gets long and the debate falters, I look out my window at the light atop the Capitol and remember if that light can lead me to work and follow me home, I can get the work done.

Joan McBride represents Kirkland and Redmond in the 48th Legislative District and is the former mayor of Kirkland.