January was full of hurry-up and wait. Waiting for annual bonus. Waiting for new projects to start and old projects to launch. Waiting for the new year to kinda show its character and find its stride.

It was also a grab-bag month of good things (Persephone’s birthday) and bad things (Grandpa Morrison’s death). And I spent the last week of it sick.

But February really feels like the start of my year. Things are happening, projects are rolling, awards were won, bonuses paid, new chapters started and old ones closed. And much to my surprise and pleasure, so far 2008 is starting to feel a lot like a year with limitless potential.

I know, right? Hello, My name is Amy. I’m 35-years old and I’m growing.

I started a lot of lists this year. Actually, I did this last year too and even the content and nature of my lists in comparison to last year’s, demonstrate a healthy shift in priorities and the steady progression of someone trying to move out of survival mode and into secure mode.

Fact is, the last three years have involved big changes and great successes. But they’ve also largely been about rebuilding my foundation. This year I realized that construction is done and now I’m in decorating and maintenance mode.

I’m still trying to sort out the details of going back for my MBA (mostly financial), but the decision to do it has been made and you can look for me to be back in a classroom before the year is out.

I’ve got some really exciting projects at work so far already and I’m heading into my first full year as a manager with annual review time kicking off next week–my first employee review. Thinking about that fills me with excitement and anxiety and wonder and god help me someone’s career is actually at least a little bit in my hands now. There is no way to say how seriously I take that.

Ellen and I are in a great place with each other and we’re fortunate to have strong and fabulous family support networks on both sides. And the cats love us.

So you know, anything could happen in 2008. Anything. And for the most part, I feel like I could handle it.

And that…is a good feeling.