The author of “Wild” just gave the most beautiful shoutout to “Gilmore Girls”
The Gilmore girls love their pop culture references — and turns out that the pop culture they reference loves them right back. After Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life featured a tribute to Wild, the author of the memoir thanked the revival with an Instagram post.
Warning: Spoilers for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life follow.
At the end of “Summer,” Lorelai told Luke she needed to go away by herself and hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in California like Cheryl Strayed did in Wild. (Lorelai was motivated to go because of Strayed’s book — not because of the Reese Witherspoon movie, there’s a clear distinction). Strayed herself shared the images of Lorelai reading Wild at the Stars Hollow pool and then attempting the hike with a message to the team who created A Year in the Life.
The author wrote:
Gobsmacked & honored by the Wild homage in @gilmoregirls Year in the Life. I watched it yesterday with my daughter, Bobbi (who is named after my mother). Like so many people, in Lorelai and Rory, I see pieces of myself, my mother, and my daughter. That scene when Lorelai wanders behind the closed store near the trail and looks out across the wild landscape then calls her mom? Took my breath away and made me cry (after laughing at so many others parts). I reached for my daughter's hand and told her someday she'd understand why I was crying. She said, "I understand already, Mom." Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel and all the people who made this show: thank you. Y'all touched so many of our hearts. #gilmoregirls #staywild
The moment Strayed referred to of Lorelai calling Emily with a memory of Richard was perhaps the most touching of the entire revival. It definitely brought tears to our eyes, so it’s no wonder that Strayed was honored that her life and book helped inspire Lorelai to get to his point.
Strayed went on her personal journey of hiking the PCT after she was still reeling from the death of her mother. Considering that Gilmore Girls is the ultimate mother-daughter story, the homage to Wild was particularly poignant.
And Strayed noting that she watched A Year in the Life with her own daughter, who was named after Strayed’s mother (like Lorelai was named after her grandmother and Rory was named after her), has us tearing up all over again.
Although Gilmore Girls lovingly poked fun at the tons of women inspired by Strayed’s words — or by Witherspoon in the movie — Lorelai’s Wild journey was a turning point for the character. And knowing that the woman who Lorelai admired approved is enough to make anyone hit the trail of self-discovery.
