BOSTON — She has been waiting 20 years, 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds for this very moment. Three, two, one, here it is. Now her life is exactly what she wanted it to be.
Caitlin Anne Julia Sullivan is now officially a 21-year-old junior at Suffolk University. Born February 13, 1987, she felt like she was never going to turn 21.
Counting down the days, she remembers starting when she was only 18. “I remember turning 18 and 19 and not caring at all about my birthday, just waiting and wanting to turn 21,” says Sullivan.
She is known for her sense of humor and willingness to do anything. Many of her friends call her not only a happy and kind girl but also kind of crazy sometimes. “I laugh pretty loud and I know I’m obnoxious sometimes but I can’t help it when I’m laughing,” she says.
So now that this happy, kind, hyper and sometimes crazy girl is 21 years old and able to get into bars and buy a bottle of wine, it is exactly what she does. The first week of her 21st birthday was a week taking full advantage of the new perks she could experiment with.
Sullivan says she was exhausted when she was done with her week of legally drinking and partying. “I went out to a different bar in Boston for four nights in a row, starting on a Tuesday and then I went to New York City to see some old friends for my birthday.”
She had the most trouble the first night of her birthday because of her excessive drinking. When she went to a bar near Cleveland Circle with her friend Timothy Somerville, a Boston College senior, she came home and did not feel so great. “Everyone at the bar kept telling her that it isn’t her 21st birthday until she pukes,” says Somerville. And that’s exactly what she did.
So now that the hype is over and she has been 21 for more than a month she says she doesn’t even think about it anymore. Although she loves bars and going to dance, she says she won’t ever do a week straight of partying like her birthday week ever again. “I was actually really behind in my homework and that is not like me at all. I’m kind of an overachiever and my parents would kill me if I had bad grades so I really had to focus and catch up with everything,” says Sullivan.
Her parents, Helena and Jim Sullivan of Longmeadow, Mass., were a little worried as well. “Kate is a good girl. She knows better than to over-indulge. I told her to order a lot of seltzers if people were pressuring her to drink too much but I know she will be smart with it all,” says her father.
Responding to his comment, her mother says, “I was worried about her going out with friends though because it was her birthday and they were probably buying her drinks.”
Everything did turn out for the best and Sullivan is now taking her parents’ advice, drinking seltzers at the end of the night. “After that week I was physically ill so now I have to take care of myself and drink more water when I’m drinking alcohol. But it was all worth it, I had so much fun and will never forget it.”