There is no doubt that when the "Gilmore Girls" revival episodes finally post on Netflix that I will be on full 24-hour Gilmore lockdown. My phone will be off and I will be shut off from the world so I do not encounter spoilers about those ever-so-famous final four words. That day will be the moment that I have waited eight long years for. It has been eight years full of tracking down revival rumors and online-stalking festival reunion showcases while having countless re-run marathon binge sessions.
I was first introduced to the Gilmores when I was 13 years old by ABC Family reruns. Immediately I was drawn in by the fast-talking, blatantly intelligent dialogue that I was witnessing. Every single day after school I would come home and be prepared to become a resident of Stars Hollow. These characters slowly wove their way into my life and to this day I feel like I know the intricacies of each one.
Other than the super handsome bad-boy Jess, who grew on me for very obvious reasons when you think about the fact that I was a young teenager with new hormones, Rory Gilmore became my idol. I wanted to be her. As I have gotten older, I’ve realized that I more so wanted to be her best friend. To my young, impressionable self it seemed as though she had everything figured out – she was brilliant, beautiful, and well-liked. For someone who felt like such an outcast, her life seemed so ideal. She was the golden child of her home town and I had this deep yearning to feel a comparably strong sense of belongingness. However, she was not that perfect. For one, she stole a yacht. She also led an extremely privileged life and could get a little whiny at times. It was OK though because her flaws made her more human to me.
If it wasn't for Rory Gilmore, I would not be writing these words right now. It wasn’t until I tuned in to "Gilmore Girls" that I knew that you could have a career as a writer. Rory was a journalist, a job that seemed mythical to my 13-year-old brain. Her drive to continuously succeed in school even well into her college years motivated me and kept me afloat in high school when it seemed really popular to not do your work and complain about course loads. Rory Gilmore kept me regimented and helped me realize that there was a bigger picture, that doing well in the present would lead to more successes in the future.
While my mother was not my best friend, she was pretty great. Seeing a positive mother/daughter relationship through "Gilmore Girls" really helped me foster a more positive mother/daughter relationship in my own life. I think I kept the majority of my angst at bay because "Gilmore Girls" taught me that it was just that, angst, and not that big of a deal.
The bottom line is this: I owe writer and creator extraordinaire Amy Sherman-Palladino everything. Without her creating this world that I fell so deeply in love with and these characters that felt as though they were my real life best friends, I am fully certain that I would not have realized that my desire to write for the rest of my life. I see traces of Gilmore that have lasted well in to my current day to day life. While I never developed a taste for coffee like the Gilmores, I can talk fast like nobody’s business and try to cultivate as many positive relationships as possibly to create my own personal brand of Stars Hollow. "Gilmore Girls" has probably made one of the largest impacts on my life and will continue to do so now that we have finally been blessed with the Netflix revival. I fully intend to carry on the lessons that the show has taught me through my life and pass them on to anyone willing to listen.
When the going gets tough, I ask myself this:
What would Rory Gilmore do?
