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When "Gilmore Girls" aired, I was in high school and had no interest in the show.
The series mostly followed quirky single mom Lorelai as she tried to build a career while maintaining a super-close relationship with her teenage daughter, Rory, who had her sights set on Harvard.
As an unruly teenager unsure of my future, I couldn't relate to either character.
Years later, though, when my son was almost 2, I caught an old rerun of the show. As a young single mom adjusting to parenting alone, I could suddenly see myself in Lorelai.
As I kept watching, I found "Gilmore Girls" felt like the guide to navigating motherhood on my own — one I desperately needed.
Back then, my son and I made up our entire primary family, so I felt that I needed to fill in a lot of gaps. Without siblings or another parent in our home, I wanted to be more than just his mom.
Some fans criticize Lorelai for being too much of a friend to Rory and not enough of a mother, but I didn't see it that way. It's nice that they hung out often, had fun, and confided in and supported each other.
I found their tight-knit bond to be exemplary of how a parent and child should interact. Their relationship became something I aspired to have with my own child.
As my kid's gotten older, we talk often, and I make sure he knows he can tell me anything. Lorelai and Rory did the same, and in the process, they built trust and became more than just mother and daughter.
In my eyes, their relationship proved being friends with your kid isn't unhealthy — it's something to hope for.
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I liked Lorelai's habit of making the ordinary extraordinary for her kid, whether she was bedazzling Rory's hammer for her volunteer work or switching up dinner with an around-the-world sampling of takeout from local restaurants.
With that, "Gilmore Girls" also inspired me to find ways to make every day special for me and my son.
Finding ways to dress up our lives with things that made us smile or laugh helped keep us both grateful for what we had, which was mostly each other.
As a single parent, I felt like I was navigating so much of life alone — but Lorelai Gilmore has always been there for me as I've found my way as a mom.
It's easy for me to always imagine her doing what's best for Rory like I try to do for my son, which has made me feel like I had someone in my corner as I've made difficult decisions as a parent.
Although I know Lorelai is not a real person, "Gilmore Girls" has since become my parenting handbook on how to be the kind of mom I hope I am.
