MaterniTV

We were incredibly blessed that for the first 4 weeks of our daughter's life, my husband and I were both home. Our daughter was very colicky (we now know because of a milk protein allergy) and it was a very sleepless time. I remember needing to laugh a lot. We watched Jimmy Fallon do impressions of Barry Gibb and the Sklar twins stand-up routine.

After chatting with girlfriends who are moms, it seems all of us had at least one show that for 6-8 weeks, was a source of comfort during the isolating first few weeks of parenthood, overwhelming responsibility and deep fatigue. One friend watched Judging Amy re-runs. Another Dawson's Creek. Thank God none of us watched these shows when they were first-run so that we would have years of seasons to catch up on out of order.

I became particularly attached to Gilmore Girls re-runs. My husband, to Food Network. Comforting, safe, good energy tv.

I wanted to move to Stars Hollow (the fictional Connecticut town where Gilmore Girls is set) where the diner has twinkle lights, all the homes have porches and built-in bookshelves, and everything I adore -books, learning, music, food, coffee- is celebrated. The entire town had a sense of an unconditional connectedness -something I still look for in communities. Even the town's strangest citizens were loved. And it's a show about mothers and daughters...a topic of endless fascination and anxiety for me. I was re-reading my tattered copy of Reviving Ophelia the day after the ultrasound told us that she was on her way.

This Fall there will be no more episodes of Gilmore Girls and I am so disappointed. The plot had sort of died. It was time for them to cancel the show. I just want to visit Stars Hollow, have a cheeseburger, get some new music recommendations from Lane (or Carol King who works at the instruments shop) buy some books and spend Thanksgiving on Suki's lawn with a deep fried turkey.