Gotta Love Gilmore

Have I mentioned before that my apartment has a name? Since I moved in last fall, the place I live is affectionately called the Baptist Palace. Both my roommate and I are Baptist ministers in training soon to be the real thing in the months ahead, so our apartment is appropriately designed to reflect our heritage. To describe the fullness of my abode in words would not do it justice, so I’ll save the imagery for those who visit.

But, one essential element I can mention about life in the Baptist Palace is the constant viewing of Gilmore (The tv show Gilmore Girls that is). Over the last year, my roommate enrolled me in Gilmore education which entailed watching all five pass seasons on DVD in consecutive order as our schedules allowed. With a few episodes to go, I will have seen every Gilmore ever made. If this was not enough, Tuesday night at 8 pm residents and guests of the Baptist Palace have a weekly date with the tv, so to watch the current 6th season. Especially when a new episode on, it is serious business. No one moves or talks unless it is a commercial. And no phone calls are made or received. It is not a game (just ask my boyfriend, Kevin… he knows not to call between 8-9 on Tuesday nights and finds that when he comes to visit Gilmore is almost always on when he arrives). Are we obsessed? I guess so.

I came in late on the Gilmore mania around here. It was a part of the life in this apartment for a year and a half before I came. Jenn and Abby discovered it when they needed something to look forward to instead of their plan to drop out from seminary. The main characters, the mother/ daughter combo of Loralai and Rory Gilmore became a part of their lives along with all the other zany characters found in the fictional town of Stars Hallow, CT. Jenn said she felt like sending them a wedding invitation when she married last May. Abby was Rory for Halloween. And I am grieving thinking about the fact that I do not own a single season when I move away from the Baptist Palace in two months.

Even though you could call our obsession a sickness, I believe that everyone needs a “Gilmore” type activity in their life even if it is not a t.v. show. A mindless happy weekly event, something that you bond with your friends about, a theme to have get-togethers with like minded folks . . . for these are the things that help us get through the more crazy times of life. They bring us comfort when we need to escape the intensity or strangeness of our own lives, refreshing us to start all over again the next day. It is something to look forward to after long days of work.

So, I know that I might sound boarder line heretical in comparing Gilmore to the attributes of scripture and prayer and all of that stuff which we are taught brings us closer to God, etc. And, I’m not knocking traditionally holy activities (I need these in my life). But, I do want to declare Gilmore’s holy capacities. It has helped to build a community of friends over the last two years, it has kept several empowered ministers to be from dropping out of seminary and it has sustained the Sabbath practice of the residents and guests of the Baptist Palace (by giving them a reason to stay on the couch for longer periods of time). Gilmore is good for the soul.

So, do I have any other Gilmore fans in the audience?