Yesterday, during a FaceTime call, I asked my sister, “would you be opposed to me coming home next weekend?” and she replied, “Sam, I wouldn’t be opposed to you coming home tomorrow.”
Over the past year and a half, my little sister, Keela and I have grown extremely close. Although we were always in each other’s lives, there was a special bond that formed between us when quarantine began.
With this newfound free time and no place else to be, we decided to take on the daunting task of watching every episode of the television show, “Gilmore Girls.” This was a bit challenging at first, with six seasons full of 40 minute episodes, however we were determined.
We soon began to find comfort in the characters of the show, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, and would discuss our thoughts about them. It was fun to have a sort of language that only she and I understood in our house.
Watching Gilmore Girls together became a sort of ritual in our quarantined lives; it gave us a sense of comfort in a time of disarray. It also allowed us to spend time together, and have a new topic to have debates over. Every night, our family knew exactly where we were headed after dinner.
My sister and I were around season three of Gilmore Girls when I moved away to college. We planned to use a streaming service to continue watching the show together even while apart, however we frequently ran into technical difficulties preventing us from continuing to watch it. We decided to wait until I would be home for a long period of time to continue watching our show together.
Soon, it was December and I would be home for an entire month. Both of us were very excited to be back together and watching Gilmore Girls at an appropriate pace. We breezed through another season of episodes, and again halted our watching when I left at the end of January.
Aside from random weekends when I visited home, we didn’t have the opportunity to finish the show until May when I returned home for the summer. That month was very momentous; the moment we had been waiting for had occurred, we watched the final episode.
Upon finishing Gilmore Girls, we continued spending time together for the remainder of summer. We took trips to Trader Joe’s for fun snacks, we got manicures together, we had sleepovers together- which Keela refers to as “sister sleepovers.”
Towards the end of the summer, we took a family trip to Florida. While swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and running around the Magic Kingdom park, my sister and I were inseparable. We spent every morning together and snuggled up in bed together at night.
The day after we got back home from Florida, I moved into Shawangunk hall. I was greeted with the harsh reality of school and had to quickly get back into the routine of being a good student. This was a bit challenging at first and I was becoming more and more stressed.
I had never felt the overwhelming effects of anxiety before, however, this new school semester was introducing me to all of the different versions of it. I had to find a way to cope with these new feelings, and so I began FaceTime calling my sister whenever this was occurring. This proved to be successful, and our little catch-up chats began to take my mind off of the stresses of my everyday life, even if just for a moment.
My college semesters begin much earlier than my sister’s middle school does, and so after a few weeks she too had to return to school. I was at a loss without this outlet for my stress, and so I decided to open my computer to Netflix and watch Gilmore Girls.
As I began re-watching the show I had watched solely with my sister, I first felt a little bit guilty for watching it without her, but it soon became comforting to reminisce on the show we hold so close to our hearts. It reminded me of the time we had spent together, remembering funny things we pointed out to each other upon our first viewing.
Now, whenever I’m feeling stressed or sad or homesick, the answer is always Gilmore Girls. I’m able to have a glimpse of comfort and familiarity while making my sister impressed with how fast I can binge watch a show by myself.
