When I was in college, I was devoted to one television drama: Dawson’s Creek. I was addicted—unabashedly addicted— to the cheesy histrionics of Joey and Dawson, Joey and Pacey, Joey and whomever. When Dawson’s father died in season five, I was livid at his absurd departure, and I even considered expressing my disdain in a letter to the show’s writers. But by the end of the series, I had forgiven them for their transgressions as I was pleased to see Joey, finally, make the right choice. All was right with the world.

Gilmore Girls lay on the fringes of my radar. I remember trying to watch an episode or two but losing interest after ten minutes. I couldn’t relate to Lorelai and Rory’s mother-daughter relationship. Their banter annoyed me; their intimacy made my eyes roll, and their theme song made me gag.

Sixteen years later, I am a fan. That ten-minute deadline that I had demanded upon the series to captivate my attention was not enough time to delve into the richness of the show’s narrative. I couldn’t see how Lorelai’s frigid relationship with her mother, Emily, balances out her loving relationship with Rory. I couldn’t appreciate Luke’s aversion to the usage of cell phones and wifi in his diner— a sacred space for breaking bread and exchanging ideas and sharing memories with real live people. I couldn’t open myself the possibility of being swept away into Stars Hollow: A town where the stakes are low; where terrorism doesn’t exist; where national politics don’t divide its citizens. A town where, if there is a sheriff, he doesn’t need to carry a gun.

I now love the show’s theme song, “Where You Lead,” penned by Carole King. It  has overtones of one of her classic pieces— “You’ve Got A Friend.” Although its lyrics are syrupy, its casual rhythm and polished pop background vocals serve as the perfect backdrop to the montage of Lorelai and Rory’s bitter-sweet moments. As a thirty-something-year-old woman who has come to appreciate my mother in ways in which my twenty-something-year-old self-wasn't capable, “Where You Lead,” makes me smile because now I get it.

I get that Gilmore Girls isn’t about some cutesy mother-daughter duo whose purpose is to demonstrate how to be an ideal mother-daughter team. Gilmore Girls is a show about honoring the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship. It’s a show about piecing together the shards of broken relationships, shards that might cut you and make you bleed. But you keep picking them up, gluing them together into a fragmented mirror that will always reflect the truth: that nothing is perfect, everything is work in progress.

I haven’t watched Dawson’s Creek in years. To be honest, I haven’t missed it. And that’s okay because as I age, my tastes change, seemingly, for the better. Where they lead, I will follow.

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