It’s not often that I get the chance to blather on about what made me want to go into writing as a career, but during the few times that the subject does come up, my answer is always the same:

Gilmore Girls made me fall in love with Television, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer made me want to create television. My aspirations have changed slightly over the years (I’m just as fascinated and obsessed with writing films as I am with TV) but my inspirations have stayed mostly the same (with the BBC’s Being Human also joining the list when I was in university, but that’s a whole other blog post).

You can imagine my excitement, then, when Entertainment Weekly announced there’d be a Gilmore Girls reunion panel at the Austin Television Festival – almost exactly 8 years after the show originally went off the air.

I own all 7 seasons of the show and have watched them over and over again an embarrassing number of times (to the point where the glue holding the binding of season 4 together has completely fallen apart). I didn’t actually start watching the show when it was airing until the fourth season in 2004 (relying on DVD boxsets to catch up on the first three), but new episodes quickly became the highlight of my week.

I remember laughing hysterically at Emily trying to sneak out of her and Richard’s basement window before getting caught (pants-less) by the police. I remember the heavy weight that hung over every episode where Lorelai and Rory were separated, and the sheer joy that seemed to radiate out of my TV when they were finally reunited.

I remember grinning like a mad fool when Jess appeared outside the elder Gilmore Home to surprise Rory in the sixth season, and I remember the escalating sense of panic when Luke just didn’t understand why Lorelai was clinging onto June 3rd with everything she had (and why he inadvertently drove her straight into Christopher’s waiting arms).

Gilmore Girls had a simple concept – a mother and a daughter who are more like best friends and who support each other as they navigate the ups and downs in their lives. The show may have been set in a small town, but the issues it tackled (and the feelings they evoked) spanned the globe. Gilmore Girls was one of those incredible shows that inspired an entire generation of women to think, and learn, and more importantly, to not be afraid of thinking and learning.

Because of Rory’s drive and love of knowledge, I never once stopped myself from answering a teacher’s question if I knew (or thought I knew) the answer. I was never ashamed to admit that I loved reading, and that I didn’t mind homework (especially when it challenged me in all the right ways). Getting into the University program I’d been dreaming about since I was 15 was one of the biggest achievements of my life, and I strongly believe it had a lot to do with 11 and 12 year old me watching Rory fearlessly go after her own academic dreams.

It was because of Lorelai Gilmore that I learned to stop being so afraid of the future and to trust that I could get through even the hardest and most unexpected of challenges. Lorelai was a free spirit born into a world of privilege and snobbery, and she refused to let other’s expectations of her dictate how she lived her life.

Gilmore Girls, at its core, was a show about family. From the literal bloodline shared by Lorelai, Rory, Richard, and Emily to the metaphorical one that ran throughout the town of Stars Hollow, Gilmore Girls was and always will be a loving and safe space to visit whenever I need a break from my own life.

For that I’ll always be grateful.

Here’s a video for the panel on Entertainment Weekly’s site.