I haven't read Cathy, or indeed any comic strip except Doonesbury, regularly in recent years, but it made me kind of sad to hear women harshing on the fact that the character got married (and in the final strip, pregnant) in the comments section in Jezebel, saying that the character had taught them that it was okay to live without men. That's a fine lesson to take away from the comics, but why resent the character or the creator when things do work out?
My sense of how feminist portrayals (and really, feminist lives) of women ought to work is this: artists and characters should be liberal in their hopes for what can happen, and conservative in estimating how much work it will take to achieve all of it. Meet-cutes should not automatically telegraph romantic success. Both love and career should not be assured in every portrayal. Sometimes, the girl should end up alone but successful. Sometimes, she should end up loved-up but making career sacrifice. Sometimes, she should get both if she's diligent and lucky. There should be choices and consequences. And the movies and television should be a bit less predictable if we actually split the proportions of those outcomes into thirds.
But Cathy had 34 years of worrying about swimsuits and chocolate. That's enough punishment to put any character through. Let her have the happy marriage and the kid.