I didn’t grow up watching TV shows, not really. I played sports, went to school, and every once in a while my family would watch TV or movies. There were a select few that I liked, including House and How I Met Your Mother. When I got to college, though, a friend suggested I watch Gilmore Girls, and so in order to procrastinate studying for my finals, I did.

Gilmore Girls gets plenty of flack from some people, but I love it for what it is. I was born in a small town in New Jersey that was much like Stars Hollow, and although I moved to Virginia when I was nine, I can still remember what it was like. For that reason, Gilmore Girls was almost like a reminder of my first home. I ended up learning a lot from the show, and here are my six favorites.

1. Life doesn’t always go to plan, but it does tend to work itself out in the end. This was one lesson I learned from Lorelai’s character. Clearly, she got pregnant at 16 and I would in no way recommend that, but the larger lesson is that sometimes, things happen. Lorelai’s dreams had to change to be attainable, but she continued to follow them all the same, and ended up happily living her dream.

2. Love is messy. This is one that I would have eventually learned on my own anyway, but I’d like to thank both Lorelai and Rory for giving me a pre-warning on that one.

3. Growing up and moving away happens, but home will always be there. The feeling of being home is irreplaceable. Maybe it has more to do with people than an actual place, but home will always be welcoming, always there to catch you when you feel like you’re falling.

4. It takes more than talent to succeed. It takes hard work, perseverance, and humility to pursue and achieve your dreams. People may get in your way, and life and careers aren’t without hardship, but if you have those things you’re in good shape. Rory had some success in her career, but she didn’t have enough humility to accept the first job she was offered because she thought she could do better. Plenty of things got in the way of Lorelai owning the Dragonfly Inn, but she didn’t let any of them stop her.

5. Life is hard, but love is what makes it worth it. Lorelai and Rory’s love, Lane’s passion for music, Emily and Richard’s strong (but oft misguided) sense of love and responsibility for their daughter and granddaughter, not to mention each other. One of the overarching messages of the show is love, as it is one of the overarching messages of life.

6. It is perfectly okay to be driven. Sometimes that will scare people away, but the right people will love you more for it. Paris and Rory were both driven in their own way, sometimes to a fault. I have been ambitious and driven my entire life, and sometimes I have been insecure about it. Gilmore Girls was the first place I had seen this kind of girl portrayed on TV, and it has since meant the most to me.

Gilmore Girls isn’t without flaws. There are characters that are problematic, and situations that are unrealistic. But sometimes that happens in life; we have problematic friends and family, and yet we love them anyway. There are things that happen in life that we wouldn’t believe if we hadn’t seen them happen with our own eyes. I love the show for this reason; somehow, it all seemed so real, and the lessons I learned from it certainly were.