To inspire a person is a most powerful action. Through inspiration one can realize his or her dreams and life-long goals. For most people a family member, such as a mother, father, big brother/sister, or war-veteran grandfather would be their inspiration. As for me, even though my mother and father were both great influences, my greatest influence came from a television program. Nearly everyday after school, I would come home, snuggle into the comfort and warmth of the couch, and turn on the television.

Upon hearing the fast paced dialogue, seeing familiar faces, and hearing the theme song, a sense of relief and total tranquility would wash over me. All the day’s hardships would disappear. I would forget about any former stress, and I would put off making calls to my friends to chat about all the gossip I had heard at school earlier that day. For when five o' clock rolled around, I was planted in front of the TV, only to watch another gratifying episode of Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls is what I had to look forward to in my day, if not because I was having a bad day, then because I simply loved to laugh at the quirky remarks and the sarcasm etched in each characters face and spoken in their dialogue. Each of the characters was unlike anyone I had ever known. Each character had an especially unique quality that made him or her fit into the town of Stars Hollow (often referred to as an “asylum”). The more I tuned in, the more I found myself wanting to be a "Rory Gilmore": she was smart and funny; she had the kind of relationship with her mother that many girls would kill to have. The show brought a new light into television: it focused on the shy, sensitive, book-smart girl, instead of the misunderstood, beautiful, popular girl. I quickly found a character that I could identify with. This convinced me that I wanted to be exactly like her.

Much of the credit for Rory’s success came from her mother, who fed her classic novels, along with meals at Luke’s Diner. In the process of getting into Harvard or to any college in fact, I recently have discovered is a long and grueling process. My mother has always pursued me to follow my dreams and to make my own decisions. I am a particularly indecisive person, so undertaking this task was not easy for me. In growing up and developing into her own person, discovering what she wanted to be and how she was willing to achieve those dreams; that was how Rory Gilmore inspired me. Being known as the ‘book-smart girl’ while all the while maintaining her friendship with Lane, going on outings with her mother, dating, and managing to make it to Friday night dinners with her grandparents has shown me that education and personal lives can come together. Although I am only one girl who is still trying to find her place, Rory made me feel as if I could conquer anything, from studying for mid-terms to obtaining the college of my dreams. Disregarding which college I may choose, I will always know that the road, to which I traveled to get there, was a road well worth traveling.