Finally where we should be

Go Bulldogs!

Rory has been standing in front of the mirror for more than one hour. The night of the Yale alumni reunion had finally arrived and she was having trouble getting ready, but not because of some fashion dilema often portrayed as a cheesy montage sequence overused on too many chick flicks. Oh, no! She definitely didn't spend one hour trying on different outfits to the sound of a lame upbeat pop song.

In reality, the clothes and what to do with her hair were the easy part of the night. It took only 15 minutes to dress up after she got out of the shower. The girl slipped into a loose navy-blue dress with long sleeves that ticked the boxes comfortable and professional. Rory's only problem was having no strong presentation speech to match her outstanding look.

All the young Gilmore wanted was to avoid another fiasco like the meeting with headmaster Charleston at Chilton. In the attempt to ignore the mess of her life and career last year, she failed to come up with something impressive to say after ten years since graduating from one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States. The girl didn't want to make a fool of herself again.

So, basically, Rory has spent almost one hour obsessing over a perfect response for the burning question about her past achievements and great future projects - a subject that certainly would be addressed by her fellow yalies tonight. Unfortunately, there was no success in the mission so far. By the umpteenth trial and error run, the girl had lost all her hopes of finding an impactful opening line.

"Rory Gilmore, class of 2007. I started well with journalism, but I completely screwed up my career and now I'm pregnant, writing a book I have no idea if it's gonna sell and with no job perspective whatsoever," she blurted at the mirror with a sarcastic tone and a frustrated half-smile, second guessing the decision to attend the reunion.

The crabby words were witnessed by a silent Lorelai, who entered the kitchen at the precise moment.

"I'd drop everything after journalism, if I were you," she said, standing at the bedroom doorframe.

"Well, I tried a bunch of other lines before. Nothing worked. So I decided to go with the truth. They say the truth will set us free, right?!" Rory replied in a bad mood.

"As much as I dig the 'Go big or go home' philosophy, I think you may be a little harsh on yourself. Funking in self-pity won't take you anywhere. You've learned from your mistakes. Now close this chapter and start a new one. It's time to move on, for Bennie. Mark my words: Your life is not over. It just needs adjustments," Lorelai walked in the room and touched her daughter's shoulders.

"I know," Rory sighed. "The pressure is just getting the best of me. If I thought Chilton was difficult, Yale is harder. All those pompous and expensive buildings will be looking down on me, judging and rubbing their historical Ivy League bricks on my face."

"Whoa! Suddenly my parents' Rory Gilmore Astronomy building project makes sense. A building with your name on it would talk you up to the rest of Yale judgemental architecture," Lorelai smiled at her daughter with empathy.

"At least, I dodged that bullet... Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be now?" The girl chuckled sheepishly, taking some time to think before speaking again. "Guess I could focus my message on an adjustment phase for new career paths, huh?"

"There you go," Lorelai patted her arm. "Anyways... Looking good, mommy."

"Just good or 'can I touch your belly' good?" Rory gave another glance at the mirror. "I'm not ashamed or anything... I just think that if I share the pregnancy news with my Yale colleagues, the baby is all I'm going to talk about tonight. And then what's the point? I'll probably get a lot of unsolicited advice about kids and do zero networking. Ugh! I don't know what on earth I was thinking when I decided to go to this thing. It's too much stress."