Upon later viewing, even I — who has a blissfully healthy, happy relationship with my own mom — can recognize how unrealistic this particular mother-daughter relationship is. Not only is their meager 16-year age difference a hurdle many of us can't jump, but their rapid-fire banter and uncanny openness (ahem, one-night-stand-with-a-Star-Wars-creature postmortem . . . ) aren't the norm. For some, it's not even the ideal: it's codependence.
Yet I watch each season and can't help but create expectations of closeness with my own daughters in the future. It's hard to avoid and fun to imagine, but I trust that it will result in serious disappointment if my own girls don't connect with me the way Rory does with Lorelai.
