I remember coming home from school as a child and ABC Family would have re-runs of Boy Meets World on from 3-4pm, and then Gilmore Girls from 4-5pm. Then I would switch to TBS to watch Friends for another hour. It was the best post-school/pre-homework TV time ever. So, after watching random episodes my whole life, I watched Friends all the way through this past winter. I knew everything that went on in the show obviously, but it was still so great to actually watch from start to finish. After that, I wanted to watch more of my childhood shows and although it was never my favorite, I settled on Gilmore Girls and I am so glad I did.

Not only is this show girly, funny, and based in my home state of CT, I am learning tons from Rory. For those of you who spent the 00’s under a rock, Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) is the daughter of single mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham). Lorelai raises Rory to be funny, independent, strong and smart. For most of the show, they are constantly together and it seems as if Rory is simply her mother’s minion. However, as Rory grows up we see her make some excellent decisions independently and she begins to set her own great example, especially when it comes to dating. Here are a few things Rory does that we should all do:

1. Includes her mom in her love life: Rory’s first boyfriend, Dean (Jared Padalecki) is unreal. He is tall, handsome, nice, funny, and does whatever it takes to make Rory happy. This is totally unrealistic for a first boyfriend, or any boyfriend really, but Dean is beyond perfect. The cherry on top is that Dean loves to hang out with Rory and her Mom, and as this is her first boyfriend, that precedent carries on throughout the rest of the boyfriends she has. Her mom is her best friend, and she doesn’t let men come between that.
2. She doesn’t wait by the phone: In season 3, Rory is dating super-sexy bad boy Jess (Milo Ventimiglia, now seen on This is Us). Jess tells Rory he will call her with plans for the weekend and all of the sudden its 7pm on Saturday night and Rory hasn’t heard from Jess at all. This episode aired in 2003 so there was no way for her to check his Snapchat or use ‘Find My Friends’ to stalk her boyfriend, her only choice was to sit and wait by the phone. But she doesn’t, she goes down to the hockey rink where she knows her best friend, Lane, will be. She didn’t even call to make sure Lane will be there, she just GOES. And guess what, Lane was there! She had a GREAT time, didn’t even mention the fact that Jess didn’t call her. Meanwhile, Jess goes to her house to find that she isn’t home, HA boy BAI.
3. Never backs down/ gets pushed around even if her boyfriend drives a Porsche: In Season 6, Rory is dating an uber rich Yalie named Logan. While Logan is away one weekend, Jess shows up to see Rory and as they are headed out to dinner, Logan pulls into the driveway (dun dun). Logan pulls up in a shiny silver Porsche and spiffy leather jacket, sees Rory with another man and goes straight into protective mode. But does Rory care? Nope. She tells him right off and defends herself and her old friend, without any care for the repercussions. Now, sadly, I know a lot of girls who would have hopped in the porch and never looked back at Jess.
4. Knows What She wants: Before all that, Rory agreed to date Logan casually, no strings. All girls do this, and we all know its crap. We secretly hope that the man will come around and want a relationship and are devastated when it doesn’t happen. Not Rory, the second she knew she was uncomfortable with the situation, she told Logan that she couldn't do it anymore. After that, Logan says he doesn’t want to lose her and dates her (which never actually happens IRL so don’t expect it). Regardless, Rory stood up for what she believed in, despite the fact that doing so may have lost her Logan for good.
5. Doesn’t know what a Birkin bag is: Later on in their relationship, Logan shows up one night before a dinner date with an orange Hermes box, containing a pink Birkin Bag. Hermes Birkin bags are $10,000 purses, and I would drop DEAD if someone showed up with one so casually like Logan did. But Rory? She didn’t even know what it WAS. While I was a little ashamed of Rory’s fashion sense in that moment, I was also extremely admiring of how humble she was. These days, someone gets any present, and it is all over social media for everyone to see. Everybody brags so much about these things, but Rory basically didn’t even care about a $10,000 bag and we all need to be humbler like that.

All in all, twenty-something women these days complain constantly how boys are as sweet as they used to be and dating these days sucks. While I agree, maybe if us women acted more respectable, funny, indepdent, and humble we would be having a better time.