Stars Hollow Syndrome

For those out there who are Gilmore Girls junkies (and yes, I include myself in this!),I must admit that I have some 'Stars Hollow Syndrome'. For awhile now, a group of us girlfriends get together and have our 'Gilmore Girls Night In'. We eat junk food and laugh and watch through the series until we can't stay awake any longer and then we pick up again the next week. We all end up talking about the same things (though most of us have seen these now how many times), 'Will Luke and Lorali ever get together?' and 'how about all those fast 1-liners!' and then always, always, always 'oh, i want to live in Connecticut in Stars Hollow. How fun..' and the comments go on and on and on.

Now, for those who have never seen the Gilmore Girls, I will give you a quick inside: Stars Hollow is a fictional New England town of aprx. 9,973 people in Connecticut. If you are familiar with the show, please skip the direct quotation from Wikipedia below:

Stars Hollow was inspired by and is loosely based on the real town of Washington Depot, Connecticut (located in the middle of the western half of the state, about 45 minutes from both Hartford and New Haven) which writer Amy Sherman-Palladino once traveled through. But at

There are many clues given during the course of the show as to its location in Connecticut, but unfortunately no one town fits all clues. Hartford is supposed to be within 30 minutes and New Haven is allegedly 22.8 miles away. Towns mentioned as being close include Woodbury and Beacon Falls (generally in the central south west of the state), Litchfield, Groton and New London (in the south east). This information can't be reconciled any better.

Washington Depot, the town Amy Sherman-Palladino mentioned as inspiring Stars Hollow, also uses a town meeting-style government and was founded in 1779. The homes and buildings in the town all match the style of that in Stars Hollow and the archetype New England town. In real life Woodbury is very close to Washington Depot. It should be noted that plenty of other Connecticut towns have village greens, gazebos or small quaint shops and give a feel much like Stars Hollow to a visitor.

Greg Morago of The Hartford Courant writes, "...... the Stars Hollow of The Gilmore Girls rings true. The town's antiques shops, small businesses, schools, government and infrastructure look the part. But where Sherman-Palladino has truly excelled, despite her Clueless origins, is in her drawing of colorful Connecticut characters. The populace of Stars Hollow, from the town busybody to the town troubadour, is familiar to any Nutmegger who ever attended a town meeting."

Now I post all of that above because of the point that I want to make: at some point I think many of us long for such a 'place'. It's this everyday, yet whimsical and magical small town that makes you feel like everything is just going to be ok and that people are just the nicest and best that there ever was. And even though life gets tough, there is always someone there to have your back.

When things start to get tough or begin to change, I naturally gravitate towards moving and changing atmospheres. I have been like this since I can remember and there are days where all I want is to live in my 'Stars Hollow' and go to town meetings and have a town troubadour sing while I walk down the street. Course, for right now, I guess that my Harry Connick Jr and Coldplay will just have to do the trick, eh?!

That 'Still, Small, Voice': Caffeine or Jesus?

Caffeine. Ah...that is literally the first thing I do each morning. I grab a fresh brewed latte and sit down on the couch and try to quickly 'wake' myself up. Usually I am watching Kaileigh go directly to her toy box and begin her "busy" day and wondering how someone who only slept for 4-5hrs the night before can be so bubbly without the latte! And here's the thing - my body depends on this every morning and usually more than one is consumed by days end. Yes, "hello, my name is Jordan and I'm a coffee addict. It's been 6 seconds since my last drink." :)

Jesus. Ah.....that is not the first thing I do each morning. I've never been one for the traditional "personal devotional time" every morning, but I have ALWAYS had a daily relationship with the Lord; sometimes it's a prayer, other times it's a scripture, and still other times it's the everyday tasks where He meets me at. But, the past few weeks I haven't had the time of seeking and conversing with Him that I usually do. That 'still, small, voice' hasn't been as clear and obvious. You know, the one where you think to yourself "is that me or is it the caffeine talking?"

I had several experiences this past week where there was no doubt it was the Holy Spirit talking to me and I just chose to ignore that 'voice'. Here I am asking the Lord to show Himself to me and to 'be near to me' as I grieve, process, and move forward and I'm not evening listening! Ha! And afterwards, I literally would shake my head and say, 'yep. you tried to tell me and I just ignored.'

I have been going through a study on A Call for Character by Greg Zoschak. The idea of love relationship with the Father and living in constant communion with Him in the everyday tasks - not just on Sundays and not just at the start or end of our days. What a concept. One that I desire to continually cultivate. This is what I have been deep in thought over the past 4 weeks. What does it mean to have - to cultivate - a love relationship with the Lord. To know who He is and how He speaks to me. It has been a very refreshing and healing time for me. The very fact that fear dissipates and joy overflows by simply cultivating a relationship with the Lord- and if I'd been through more than 2 chapters, I'm sure I'd have more!

So next time you hear that 'still, small, voice', it may not be the 4th latte of the day talking - it could just be your Heavenly Father desiring to converse! Because how nice would it be for my body to 'depend' upon that daily relationship just as it depends on the coffee I immediatly feed it each morning!