By: Madalyn Baldanzi
I ‘m So Glad Gilmore Girls Is Coming Back So I Can Enjoy It With The Daughter I Had When I Was 16

Wow! Did you see the trailer for the new Gilmore Girls reboot on Netflix?? I am so excited. I am the #1 Gilmore Girls fan. And now I can finally share the experience of watching new Gilmore Girls episodes with my sixteen-year-old daughter, something I ‘ve been hoping to do ever since I got pregnant with her at the age of sixteen.
You see, I was a sixteen-year-old watching Gilmore Girls for the first time, and I realized, ‘I should definitely have a kid right now so I can be a cool mom. ‘
I don ‘t think it ‘s a coincidence that Amy Sherman-Palladino decided to release the latest installment of her masterpiece sixteen years after its start. Sixteen years old is the perfect age at which to fell in love with Stars Hollow. When I saw the first season on the WB in 2000, I instantly fell in love. Luke ‘s Diner, Chilton, the unbelievable coolness of having a daughter everything thinks is your sister. While all my friends were drinking coffee so they could be just like the cast of Friends, I had better taste in TV and got myself pregnant so I could be just like Lorelai! Thank goodness my Bella (my name is Annabelle, get it?!) was a girl! And I think that Amy Sherman-Palladino knows that all her biggest fans are 32 year olds with 16-year-old daughters!
And I ‘ll admit it- my life didn ‘t turn out quite like Lorelai and Rory ‘s. Lorelai escaped her parents ‘ mansion to work at the Inn; I stayed in my parents ‘ basement and work as a paralegal for a very grumpy attorney. Rory loved all of Lorelai ‘s pop culture references; when I mention how much I liked Meghan Trainor ‘s new song, Bella says, ‘Shut the fuck up for five seconds, Mom. ‘ Lorelai and Rory ate junk food every meal and never gained a pound; I ‘ve been stress eating for sixteen years and now I get winded when I try to walk up the stairs. But dealing with life ‘s challenges is what Gilmore Girls taught me to do!
Now, Bella hasn ‘t caught on to Gilmore Girls yet. I propped her up in front of the TV for every episode while it was on air (and every episode on syndication- Gilmore Girls is a great babysitter!), but she says she doesn ‘t really remember them. She was seven when it ended. (When she told me that she was mixing up memories of Luke on the show with memories of her absent father? I ‘ve never been happier.) But once she hit 10, she wouldn ‘t watch the show with me anymore. It was just normal, teenage rebellion stuff- ‘Mom you have a creepy obsession with this show! ‘ ‘Mom are you on team Jess or Dean is not an appropriate question to ask at a parent teacher conference! ‘ But sixteen is the Gilmore Girls-loving sweet spot. These new episodes are going to turn it around.
She did get pretty upset with me the other day when I told her I intentionally kept her dad from her so that he and I could have a Lorelai/Christopher-esque reunion in a year or two. But I ‘m sure these new ‘Girls episodes will make her understand why I had to do that.
My greatest wish is that Bella will which this reboot and decide to get pregnant herself! She only has ten months left to carry on the family tradition! And if Gilmore Girls taught me anything, it ‘s that a mom who has a rocky relationship with her daughter is going to have an awesome relationship with her granddaughter! Just call me Emily Gilmore!