A very unrosey post about TV of all things.

There are a number of reasons people love and watch gilmore girls. It is a "warm blanket," it reminds people of a time years ago when tv was clever, witty, simple and GOOD. It may remind some of us of the relationship we had with our mother, daughter, etc. Or it may have been the balm on those of us who didn't have that relationship but wished we had it and therefore lived vicariously through Lorelai and Rory. Whatever the reason, Gilmore Girls is a show that has some of most diehard loving fans that are still loyal and waiting with baited breath for more. For me, Gilmore Girls, may be one of the reasons I am sane. 

You see, I have a large family, with whom I have always been very close. My mother and I always spent our days together while I lived at home, giggling about Sting and pulling weeds for long hours in the garden, I had that great relationship between mother and daughter that so few have. That confusing one where the line between mother and friend gets blurred. This relationship developed over long years of really hard work together, late nights tromping out to feed lambs at 3 am, buiding sheep pens for more babies til midnights, early mornings feeding the goats and milking before packing up the car to be set up at market at 7 am and endless days in the blinding sun plowing, hoeing rows and more green bean picking than one pair of knees will allow. 

When I left home, I still kept up this wonderful relationship, and to this day as well. But eventually, families grow up. All my brothers and sisters that once could give you their undivded attention now have babies and jobs and husbands to contend with the time you used to spend holed up with coffee and wine and cookies and a good movie to gossip and enjoy the quiet warmth of familial companionship. 

I have good friends that live distantly and who are also very much grown up and living a big life of their own and I myself have a wonderful relationship and work a full time job to keep me busy, but that doesnt mean I don't feel the want of a deep female (or male) friendship/family connection. I don't want their validation or advice to make me feel better, I want someone who loves you and whom you love to simply BE with you and make you feel easier about your day, your life. Someone to be there when you want to weep and cry about boys or the pain of your past, someone to kick you into gear when you feel hopeless and uncreative and sad. Someone to tell you how beautiful you look or how terrible you look, whatever. It's so strange to me that at 24, I am only just now feeling the need of a friend. And yet, I don't have time for one! I work 8-6 most days and then only have time to eat dinner, clean up, cuddle my pup and fall fast asleep. Not to mention the couple hours a day to spend with my beau. Or my inability to be a very good friend myself, being so constantly exhausted and needing quiet time.  

So, I am in a pickle. I have no time nor much energy to give to forming a deep, new friendship, nor is it at all realistic at this age to find that in others my age who are also forming their own new lives. Everyone is getting married, working big jobs, having children, playing music, going on big trips and all manner of big things. 

And here is where Lorelai and Rory come into play. They are my guilty pleasure of gossip, junk food, bad movies, fashion, old pain, past failure, hope for the future and so much more. They are more than a warm blanket. They are filling a gap I am unable to fill right now. Even if I only watch a few episodes every now and then, it is enough. Their banter, love, silliness and charm keep me company while I clean, do dishes, make dinner, do sit ups, etc. 

After finding the INCREDIBLE, BRILLIANT, Gilmore Guys podcast, I was able to take their fun on the road with me too, on walks with my dog and even on my lunch break at work. The hosts are just as clever and wonderful and even as gossipy as the girls themselves and love the show as much, if not more, than I do. 

I am one of the LAST people who could ever think a TV show would mean as much to me as it does. I haven't had cable in five years, haven't owned a real tv in almost as long and haven't had internet at my current apartment the last six months. I am pretty content to be without too much visual entertaimnet and etc. 

Maybe its symbolic for me, a reminder of what I had with my own family or a reminder of what that small town charm could feel like. Maybe its the lovable townies who stand up for the main characters like they ARE family. Or perhaps the realistic conflicts in the more difficult episodes that are resolved with poor life choices making the results even worse and maybe that comforts me because I know I am not alone in this. Maybe its that I can live vicariously through Rory and adventure through the halls of an Ivy League school I have no hope of ever attending. Maybe its her cute boyfriends. Maybe it's Lorelai's sharp tongue and badassery. Or Richard and Emily's wealthy and wonderful antics and views. I could never put a finger on it. All I know is that for a lonely, hardworking and somewhat in between girl who has watched the show from age 8-9 to the ripe old age of 24, Amy Sherman Palladino has given me and I'm sure many others a gift that will keep on giving and never get old. She has created a world, that no matter unrealistic, all of us need to believe exists somewhere out there. A warm blanket, a tv show to eat ice cream and wallow to, a screen to stare at blankly while we let the full weight of a day sink in, or just occasionally the best backround noise ever. 

SO, thanks Amy. Thanks Lauren and Alexis...Kelly and Edward, Yanic and Melissa...and Kevin and Demi.