Observations on moving, breathing and being. These are mine.

I’ve been writing them down since 2020.

I took a long pause. I’m back now.

Catherine S. Marquette 7/6/26 Catherine S. Marquette 7/6/26

On staying

The day started with a parade.

Capitol Hill in the morning. Marching bands, American flags, even the mayor. Red, white and blue everywhere. The sidewalks packed. Generations side by side.

I was there because D.C.’s home and about as local as it gets for me.

Catherine S. Marquette 6/29/26 Catherine S. Marquette 6/29/26

On being seen

A dear friend was in town for business last week. We've known each other 25 years—a work relationship that turned into a real one somewhere along the way—and we manage to see each other in person about once a year. So dinner at The Wharf had the usual shape. Catch up on the basics, then start going somewhere deeper, the way good friends do.

Somewhere in there he said something I haven't been able to put down.

Catherine S. Marquette 6/22/26 Catherine S. Marquette 6/22/26

On the motherland

I was born in Turkey, yet was only there for three months before moving back to the US through JFK Airport and New York City.

Perhaps this is why both places feel like home—the latter, New York, where I lived twice for nearly eight years in all. The former, less explicably, given I have no memory of it, somewhere in my bones.

Catherine S. Marquette 6/8/26 Catherine S. Marquette 6/8/26

On reviving

I drove through the country roads with a smile on my face. I can't easily verbalize the why behind it. Suffice to say—a short 48 hours on a sheep farm in Vermont revived more within me than I thought it might—or than I believed it needed to.

Six of us were brought together by one—the leader of the group. We started as strangers and left as friends.