Anyone who knows me knows that I have two real obsessions: filmmaking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As I'm sure all of you know (not really), this year is Buffy's 20th anniversary, as the show aired for the first time on March 10th, 1997. Yes, I was only one year old and had no concept of what television actually was -- but, I did love to watch. Once my eyes caught a television screen, you literally couldn't pull me away. See below:

When I was seven years old I saw Buffy for the first time and by the end of the opening credits, I was hooked. I wanted to be her. I wanted blonde hair; I wanted to wear leather pants; I wanted to be sarcastic and snarky, which luckily worked out in my favor; I wanted to live in California (still do); I wanted to be a vampire slayer; and I wanted best friends like Willow and Xander. There was nothing in Buffy's fictional life that I wasn't infatuated with.

Unfortunately, my mom didn't like Buffyat all and unfortunately didn't want me to watch it. She wouldn't watch the show herself, thinking it was all about demons, violence, and silly high school antics. She found it to be inappropriate for a less-than-ten-year-old which, let's be honest, it kind of is. So, for the first couple of years of my obsession, I had to watch in secret at my grandma's house. My grandma had this theory that rules my parents made were only valid at my parents' house, so all of them could be broken at hers.

And broken they were.

My grandma bought me all of the single-season DVD sets so I could keep them at her house and watch after school and over the summer, and for nearly three secretive years that's exactly what I did. At some point, around the age of eleven, I had a crisis of conscience and told my mom that I had been watching Buffy at Nanny's even though she told me not to. I was terrified that she'd take away the show that made my head spin, and she did for a short while.

Eventually, just as my grandma procured the final missing season from my collection (Season 2), the disappointment in two years worth of fibs and lies wore off and I was allowed to watch again. Every year from age twelve to somewhere around age fifteen, I started in season one and watched all the way through to the end. Over and over and over again. I know this show like I know my own mind.

So, needless to say, when the announcement of a reunion was made on Wednesday of last week, I was over the moon. I mean, the last time the bulk of the cast was together was ten full years ago. I had waited ten years to see my favorite cast -- my favorite group of people -- together again in the same room, talking about the show that made me want to be a filmmaker and that taught me so much about growing up, feminism, friendship, and the definition of strength.

Entertainment Weekly, by some miracle, was able to get almost every major, recurring series regular plus Joss Whedon, the creator, back together for a day of photoshoots and interviews, and a short panel. And, as even more of a bonus, they were able to keep it a secret.

As any true super fan does, I have Twitter set to notify me every time any of the cast members tweet, so I was bombarded with the best news of my life back to back to back to back. Everyone was talking about the news. My afternoon was filled with magazine cover photos, inserts, video clips, adorable cast tweets to each other, and an earth-shattering collide of fandoms between Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sarah Michelle Gellar speaking entirely in Hamilton and Buffy GIFs on Twitter.

As much as I am absolutely thrilled that there was even a reunion in the first place, there are a few things I was a bit bummed out over. Anthony Steward Head, the man behind Buffy's Watcher and father figure Giles, was unable to attend. He is performing a play in London and had scheduling conflicts. Another pivotal character that wasn't represented at the reunion was Eliza Dushku as Faith, the dark, twisty, other slayer. While she is one of the most memorable, impactful, and overall important characters on the show, she was never a series regular and was only in 20 episodes total. She wasn't asked to attend the reunion.

Another part of the reunion I slightly dislike is the 45-minute long "panel" that EW filmed and released included more commentary and summary of the show from people that weren't even involved in its production. In between the commentary were very short clips of the cast speaking on the show and to each other. Regardless, I got to see them all together again, so I was able to get past it

My biggest problem is honestly the magazine covers. As a part of the reunion, EW released four different magazine covers, one basic release and three limited editions: one with Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz (basic release), one with Sarah and James Marsters, one with David alone, and one with Sarah alone. As much as I love David and James as Angel and Spike, I hate that the covers make it seem like the show was simply about a girl and her boyfriends. I understand the marketing value of putting Sarah and David on a cover together, as they are arguably the most well-known faces currently, but I think that that should have been used in place of David's solo cover. I personally feel that the main, basic release cover should have had the "Scoobies" on the front: Sarah, Alyson Hannigan who played Willow, and Nicholas Brendon who played Xander. They were the heart of this show and to see them neglected on the cover of the magazines is a bit heartbreaking, to say the least. The released covers are seen below:

Still, the announcement of the reunion and the limited edition magazines, all of which I special ordered, was enough to make my entire last week better. For nearly thirteen years I've dreamed of seeing this incredible group of unmatchable talent sitting together again. Of course, I'd rather have it in the form of a limited Netflix series, but I'll take every morsel of Buffy glory I can get. This show made so much of me who I am today. It made me a writer; it made me a filmmaker; it made me a feminist; and it made me "chosen." I owe so much of myself to the creative genius of Joss Whedon. This show, this cult phenomenon, was so much more than a show about vampires and angsty teens. It was about the horrors we all face in life. It took all of our very real, very scary life events and put them in the form of vampires and demons, and made them tangible things that we could fight each week alongside Buffy and her friends. It revolutionized television's power to change lives. It told us that we weren't alone, that we could be brave. It told us that we were chosen.

Now, can I get a Netflix series? Please?

P.S. - My mom has since watched all seven seasons of Buffy and loved it. Not quite as much as me, of course, but she finally understands why it means as much as it does to me. Talk about Mother-Daughter bonding. #Slay