Today is the last day I will spend in my twenties.
It’s a rainy morning which matches how I feel—reflective, calm, peaceful.
I’ve spent 2.5 years in this apartment—the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place since I was 15 years old. It’s special to get to know a place intimately, and intimacy takes time. I’ve grown increasingly sentimental seeing my backyard go from bud to bloom with every passing spring, the endless cycle of growth and decay a gentle reminder of how much change is possible in such a short time.
The birds are abundant: Robin Redbreasts, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Hawks, Morning Doves, the other usual suspects, and two beautiful types of birds I still can’t figure out. I think about Mommy listening to the birds at dusk on spring nights in Houston. I listen the same way too now—nature is therapy. Squirrels, an outdoor cat, and a few big carpenter bees flit about, while the spider returned to her same spot as last year (which makes me happy). Little Cat, now a teenager, is still the sweetest boy.
I turn 30 tomorrow :)
I can do anything with my life right now, which feels both fortunate and freeing but also strange, as there’s nothing or anyone to root me down anywhere.
I plan to leave Getty once (if) we IPO, but the timeline keeps getting pushed back now with a late June target. The past 3 years working for Craig have been instrumental to my career and it will be tough to leave, but I feel confident about what I want to spend my time thinking about and working on next.
There will be no love interest at my birthday party tomorrow night for the first time I can remember. After spending my twenties in a series of long relationships, I’m really appreciating this time being alone. Not being in a relationship means only owing anything to myself—and I owe myself everything.
I’m starting to call New York “home” and I might just mean it. This July will be 5 years since I moved from Chicago, which feels like years ago and like yesterday at once. “5 years” is a significant period of time because, for the first time, these next five years are actually significant. Actions and inaction during 30-35 for women are consequential. Although by no fault of their own, I find myself growing increasingly resentful towards the men my age whose plans for the next five years don’t require them to include thoughts on “family.” My five-year plan on the other hand has to include both personal and professional elements. I want to squeeze a lot out of my career and meet the man who will eventually become the father to my kids.
I like the mystery and excitement behind not knowing anything about all these big life decisions that will fall into place over the next decade. For now, though, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be in the universe. I’m learning and unlearning, I know what’s important to me, I know what I deserve, and I know the sort of life I want to keep building. And I have so much to be thankful for - my parents, sister, and friends are alive and healthy. I’m alive and healthy. I love and am loved. Everything else is just extra.
Bye, Catherine in her 20s! I love you!
the last decade in numbers:
4 cities
7 homes
4 jobs
9 RVA cases, 9 unsolved RVA cases
1 business started (and ended)
2 cofounders
5 women’s marches
1 acting class
2 grandmother deaths
1 Trump presidency
3 alive parents
4 relationships
1 toxic relationship
1 failed startup
1 IPO
1 pandemic
7 BLM marches
1 acquisition
20k followers
4 months in cr
2 cats
1 month of interior design
5 months of no drinking
3 new hobbies
1 D.MBA certification
2 therapists
0 broken bones
31 knee stitches
4 journals
1 blog
many lessons
xx