Rachel Hauck's Blog, page 3

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2017 In Summary

Christmas Tree

How do you sum up 2017? Hard? Difficult? Lonely? Trying? Eventful? Perhaps you faced a lot of changes or challenges. Maybe it was a year of renewal and inspiration. Even a season of prosperity.

I don’t typically think of a “word for the year” unless it comes to me in contemplation or prayer, or maybe out of the blue, and it feels right.

At the end of 2015 my husband asked if my art tablet was nearby. Now I do NOT draw but I like to doodle.

“It’s in the other room. Why?”

He shrugged. “Just wondering.”

That evening we were in the living room with friends talking and watching TV — yes at the same time. I was drawing in the tablet and I wrote the word Freedom.

My husband leaned forward. “I was going to tell you to write that word and draw around it.”

It seemed Freedom was on God’s heart for 2016.

For 2017, I wrote the word Peace. The Lord continues to bring us to places of freedom and peace in this season of our lives. And I am grateful.

I’ve dubbed 2017 the year of family. I’ll give you the run down.

January — My maternal grandmother died at 102 years and seven months. It was good to see the extended family at her funeral and remember her together. Even cousins from my dad’s side came to honor her. Also, my husband’s sister and her husband moved down to spend time with my mother-in-law. We’ve not had this much family in our neck of the woods for over 17 years!

I started a new book, The Love Letter. Our “girl” Cassie came for a few days. She’s not technically ours but we like to claim her.

End Of An Era

Spin class selfie!

It’s the end of an era.

For the past 25 years, with a few years off in the middle ’90s, I’ve been a member of a local gym.

A mile from my house, the facility is part of a heath insurance network in our area.

There are multi gym locations. But over time, our location seemed to get a bit run down. Look neglected.

Then a super gym – LA Fitness – came into town.

Gradually, our gym —  that was once so crowded you had to sign up on a clip board for the treadmill and elliptical machine —  was eerily silent.

One of ten treadmills would be in use. There was no line for the weight machines. The familiar faces disappeared.

But I’d locked into spin (cycling) classes and loved my instructors. Once you start a routine like that it’s hard to let it go. You get to know people. They expect you to show up!

In the last year, the decline in gym attendance became even more noticeable. We speculated as we spun, “Are they closing this place?”

This month the notice went out. June 30th the Palm Bay branch would close.

My world is small. Working from home creates a very nominal social life. I’ve no co-workers. Facebook is my water cooler time but I may be the only one at the cooler, say, 2:01 in the afternoon.

So when my gym closed, I felt it.

My first foray into spin classes originally started at 5:30 am. But I was writing late into the evening in those days and getting up early became impossible. The afternoon spin class became more practical.

I loved the instructor. She was a cyclist so her classes felt “real world.” And she played the best music.

Her replacement was more of an aerobics teacher with peddles so I gathered my courage, set my alarm and returned to the morning class. 5:30 am.

By now my writing routine had changed so I could endure an early wake up call.

The instructor was another cyclist with a good play list. For the past five years, I’ve “spun” with these guys. They were my Tuesday and Thursday morning routine. 5:30 spin. Followed by 7:0o am prayer. Then home to work. Or, if need be, nap. Then work.

Through the sleepless, hellish menopause year, I was at 5:30 spin. The routine kept me grounded. I found myself longing for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

We became friends. Laughed. Joked. They put up with my “Whoops!” and “We can do it boys!” interjections.

They celebrated when The Wedding Dress hit the New York Times.

My instructor tolerated the moments when I had a story breakthrough and ran from class to collected a pencil and paper from the front desk.

They understood when I left class 5 minutes early so I could get home, shower and change for prayer.

I listened with sympathy as she detailed a long journey of healing with her cat.

The class became more than a way to exercise but as a way of life. A way to build relationships. And hopefully, burn 500 calories in 50 minutes.

Today was our last class together. Next week, I’ll join the throngs who migrated to LA Fitness. (It’s the closest facility to our house.) And start a new era.

Change is never easy. I’ll miss seeing these folks Tuesday and Thursday. But I’m kind of excited to see what the coming days bring.

 

 

 

The post End Of An Era appeared first on Rachel Hauck.

Creating Memories

Boating and swimming at Norris Dam.

It’s Father’s Day. My dad has long since moved from this life to the next but he’s so real in our lives and in our way of living—from faith to family.

This past week, we spent three days and four nights with family. Siblings. Cousins. Mom. Aunt and Uncle.

It started when my maternal grandmother turned 100. Her two daughters and their children gathered with their children in eastern Tennessee to celebrate.

We rented cabins at Norris Dam and a tradition was born.

One rainy afternoon as we all huddled on one of the cabin’s front porches, I said, “We can’t let this die. We have to do this again.”

Among the cousins’s kids there were 16 kids under twenty. Fourteen under fourteen. And they were having a blast.

We all agreed. We had to gather again. Since there is no formal “family home” any more, Norris Dam State Park acted as a perfect substitute.

Every family has their own cabin. Those of us without kids, bunked in together.

A tradition was born. My dad would’ve been proud.

Grandma died in January at 102 and 7 months. I’m not sure she was totally aware of the spark her 100th started, but I know she’d be grateful.

My brother…

We set up a few guidelines from the start. Try to have the reunion the same time every year. And keep the location.

The moment we started to move it around would be the moment we’d lose people. We all try to keep an open mind and open schedule to find the best weekend.

While we want everyone there, it’s come as you can. No pressure to show up but know you’ll be missed.

So far, so good.

Watching Over You

Despite the great rip-tide scare of 2015, my sister and her family made their third annual spring vacation trek to our house.

We love it. My brother-in-law makes biscuits and gravy — my husband’s love language — and grills steaks.

Yea, spring break is great for me! Ha! Note to self: do more of the cooking next year.

Most of the days are spent at the beach. I bought a nice boogie board when my brother was here with his kids and we all became proficient. Even though as I was learning, an older couple stood on the shore and laughed when a second wave turned me heels over head… True story.

Who Doesn’t Love A Sale!?

My publisher put some fun titles on sale for you this month! From $.99 to $1.99. Here’s the link for buying options: http://bit.ly/2kn19nq

The post Who Doesn’t Love A Sale!? appeared first on Rachel Hauck.

The Process Begins…

I wrote a long blog post that some how got lost. That was two days ago. No worry, I didn’t know where I was going with it anyway.

Today, Friday, I’m working on a new book, developing the story, the characters, the plot, trying to find some connections between the past and the present, between the characters and me.

Emotion. It’s the key to a great story. Creating characters that look, feel and act like real people.

The hardest part of writing is the doubts. “Does this book matter?” “Who’s going to read it, really?” “Am I just going the same ole same ole?” “Is this all my career will ever be?”

So the process begins…

Every once in awhile, God breaks in tangibly. I know He is always with me, but in my humanity I’m not always aware. In His kindness, He breaks through my cluttered soul and says, “Watch Me.”

I know it means keep my eyes on Him. I also think it means, “You don’t know what I have planned.”

The Lord never wants us discouraged! Meaning, without courage. Doesn’t mean life will be easy, or the disappointments won’t come, but we gather ourselves and find courage, and head on down the road to our “appointments!” with Him.

Writing is a chore. There are days I wonder why I do this. It’d be so nice to go to an office and get a regular paycheck.

But… I’d be boxing myself in. Taking the easy road. The one that is okay but not where He has called me.

I love this verse…

Song of Solomon 4:8

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, May you come with me from Lebanon. Journey down from the summit of Amana, From the summit of Senir and Hermon, From the dens of lions, From the mountains of leopards.



Jesus is calling us from “Lebanon” or our human comfort and frailty, to journey with Him over the mountains and through the valleys, from the cares and worries, the burdens, the warfare of this life.”

It’s only in realizing WHO He is we realize Who we are and the journey becomes not a series of disappointments and set backs, but merely a sojourn through mountains and valleys with Him. Holding His hand. He changes our perspective by giving us a mountain top view.

Here’s some great insight from teacher Mike Bickle.



He says in verse 8, “I will take you up on it then. Come with Me from Lebanon. Come with Me, My Bride. Look from the top of the mountain of Amana.” That is a mountain range in Lebanon. The Lord says in effect, “Okay, you said you will go to the mountain in verse 6. Here we are in verse 8—come, let’s do it.”

She thinks, “Ah, hum, okay, let’s do it. I will live out that new dedication.”

Again, it is not just an eccentric kind of outward, one-time event. It is a whole way of carrying your life with God where you are really going to obey Him with your time, your money, your passions, your words, and what you do with your energy. I will go to the mountain.

Notice this… He says that you are looking from the top of the mountains with Him. You are going to have that bigger perspective from the place where He is, but there are lions and leopards up here. There are battles. There are devouring animals up here that will come against you up there. You have to know that.

Lions and leopards. She must war against lions and leopards—animals that devour humans. Satan is a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8). This verse speaks of spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-12).

Lions and leopards are animals that devour. A higher dedication always brings a greater demonic resistance, always.

When there is a new level of dedication, a new level of believing God, there will be a new level of demonic attack against you. There are lions and leopards up on those mountains—lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

End of Bickle notes.

It’s not enough for me to say, “Yea, I’m going with you Jesus,” but I have to devote myself to the training and the trail.

My brothers hike the Appalachian Mountain trails. Once they decide to go, they don’t just drive to the trail opening with a high-ho, let’s go.

“Did you bring a tent?”

“No, I thought you did?”

“I was going to bring the food.”

“Did you?”

“Well, I ran out of time. No worry, there’ll be berries on the bushes.”

They wouldn’t last a day! So why is our journey with God often taken haphazard? Sometimes our being “led by the Spirit” looks more being driven by our feelings.

We must certainly be led by the Spirit, but with the Lord many, many, many times the leading is nothing more than practicals.

It’s butt-in-chair time to write. Or read five chapters of my Bible. Or spend fifteen minutes just worshipping.

It might mean the check book says you can’t give but God says you can. So you obey. It might be you go to bed early so you can get up for a prayer meeting.

Maybe it means believing God instead of your feelings or your circumstances.

Look, the journey isn’t about being a better “you.”

It’s about being conformed to Him. And what’s wild is you end up becoming a better you. I’ve found that to be true for me. Not bragging I’m all that and a bag of chips, but looking back over the last 25 years, I’m changed. (Thank goodness!)

So, back to writing. Each book is another step in my journey with Him. I don’t always know or see what He’s doing with me and in me during the process, but I know I’m with Him. He’s leading me.

I can trust Him. I just can! So can you.

Off to write… seriously.

(not responsible for typos… ;p)

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Three Days Before Christmas

I’m at my Mom’s in Tennessee with all but one of my siblings. The nieces and nephews are going crazy, running through the house laughing and playing.

They range from twenty-two to three!

We’re chowing on pizza and salad, yes, salad, surfing Christmas movies and deciding what to do with the restless three year old.

It’s always fun when the family gets together. We’re of the same mind, mostly, spiritually and politically.

And we’re all Buckeye fans.

Well, we’re not all football fans.

I just said to my sister, “Ohio State is the first non champion to go to the play offs.”

She said, “Are you speaking English to me.”

Whaaa? She totally skipped the football loving gene.

I’ve finished all of my shopping today. Are you finished with yours?

I’m a gift giver. I love giving!

In return, I like gifts myself. I can’t help it!

We’ve loaded up on snacks. The Snicker bites are in the freezer. I mean, where else? It’s tradition. I taught one of my nephews and one of my nieces a hand game I used to play with my Dad.

There are card games and board games going on. Presents being wrapped and placed under the tree.

Love abounds.

The season is about a God becoming man, About a cradle leading to the cross. About a savior being born. And I love that the blessing of his birth blesses us this year.

It’s evident in the love we show – imperfect, impatient, yet persevering and enduring. We are blessed.

What about you? How is your Christmas blessed this year?

The post Three Days Before Christmas appeared first on Rachel Hauck.

Three Girls Discussing Gilmore Girls

It’s started on Facebook. Don’t all great ideas?

Friends and novelist extraordinaire Susan Meissner and Katie Ganshert started breaking down the much ballyhooed Gilmore Girls revival, A Year In The Life.

We found ourselves speculating, longing for understanding and conclusion to these dynamic yet flawed fiction characters. Knowing our own feelings, we felt sure many of you felt the same way. So we share our insight and experiences as a way to solve our angst of that shocking ending.

We welcome your comments! This show is one to be discussed.

But be warned! SPOILER ALERT. Stop right here if you haven’t tuned into the Netflix series. Go. Watch. Come back.

My Gilmore Girls Experience

I met the Gilmore Girls way back in 2000 on the CW when my husband became captivated by the rapid, nuanced, and pop-culture laden dialog. Midseason he grew weary of the repartee, but I was hooked.

I stuck with the Gilmore Girls to the glorious, or to some, the bitter end. I’ve watched the entire series an additional three l times. I’ve laughed-out-loud, cried, shouted, and wondered what in the world the writers were thinking. But deep down, I’ve remained a GG devotee.

This new series answered a lot of our questions. We had a nice resolve with Luke and Lorelai, and Emily. But once again, Rory left us hanging. No, she left us dangling over the precipice by our finger tips.

Wha????!!

There was more lying, deceiving and moral ambiguity in Stars Hollow. And the “myth of Rory” grew larger than life. In Katie’s section, we’ll address this myth.

Be warned, this is a long post. But as Susan Meisser pointed out, you’ll find we’ve hit on all that might be vexing you after watching it.

First up, the lovely and brilliant Susan Meissner.

Thanks, Rachel. A bit of disclosure first. I’m not exactly a true GG devotee. I didn’t watch the series when it ran back in the day and I consumed all seven seasons in the span of three months.

I wanted to find out why there was so much hype about the reunion, and many good friends love The Gilmore Girls. Truth be told, I felt like I had missed out on something unique and wonderful.

After watching most of all those 150+ previous episodes (sometimes I fast-forwarded past the who-cares side stories) I’m still not a devotee, not like some. I can’t quite understand or embrace these characters’ community penchant for being dishonest and deceptive with each other and their parallel inability to forgive quickly and learn from their mistakes.

RACHEL: This is really great insight. I found some of these inconsistencies irritating and wondered if it was just the writer’s short cut to tension.



Still, I became emotionally invested and I wanted to see where the writers of the show would take the Gilmores nearly ten years after the last episode aired.

Here’s my take:

After finishing the last episode of A Year in the Life, I’m pretty sure there will be some who will be quite content with how the Gilmore Girls series was forever wrapped up, some will be likewise forever perplexed and some will be, like, “Nooooo!”

RACHEL: I’m one. I shouted, “I KNEW IT!”

KATIE: I was more like, “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?” In my head, at least. I couldn’t actually speak intelligible words for a good five minutes.



Without going into all the reasons why I am actually okay with what the writers decided to do, let me just say I’m one of those people who likes imagining what the future holds for characters I care about. I don’t always need an epilogue or a denouement or all the loose ends neatly tied up in a bow.

For example, I have always been satisfied with how Gone With the Wind ended. Did Scarlett get Rhett back? Well, did she? The reader is invited – has always been invited – to imagine what Scarlett was able to accomplish in the days and months and years after the book ended. The reader gets to pick the result. The result she wants for Scarlett. The result she wants for herself.

I think the same is now and endlessly true for the Gilmore Girls, specifically Rory Gilmore. The writers could have paired her up at the end with Logan and fully infuriated the Team Jess fans, or with Jess and massively disappointed the Loganites.

So they did neither. We viewers will choose. Do you want Rory to end up with Logan? She can. She can tell Logan she’s expecting his child (yes, it must be his then, and not the one-night-stand Wookiie’s). He will break off his engagement to Odette and he and Rory will at last be together.

If that’s you, just keep in mind that despite their obvious chemistry, Logan is a man who sleeps around on his fiancé. If you want her to end up with Jess, she can decide she doesn’t want to know if the child is Logan’s or not and can confide in Jess, who, despite what he said to Luke, clearly still loves her.

He can be the one to step in to take care of Rory and be the dad to the child she carries. Or Rory can go it alone like her mother did. This is after all, why she went to her father to find out if he had any regrets that she was raised only by her mother.

So you have three options. Three doors. Which does Rory choose? Well, that’s up to you. And I’m not unhappy that it is.

Rachel and Katie, what is your take on all of this?

RACHEL: Good assessment, Sooz. I’m the one who wants Rory with Logan. but there is a chance the baby is from the Wookee.

I think the Palladino’s left us hanging on purpose. We can write our own ending.

Katie:

RACHEL HERE:

Let’s talk Team Logan vs Team Jess for a spell.

In order to have a fair discussion, we have to set aside all of our personal preferences. If you’re the bad-boy, leather wearing, motorcycle loving kind, forget that’s why you love Jess. The same thing if you go for the bad boy, preppy, Mercedes driving, yacht stealing, rich boy. Also, lay aside your moral prejudices. Both men have faults.

Who changed for Rory?



I have to give this to Logan. When Rory and Logan first hooked up, literally, he was honest with her. He didn’t want a girlfriend. But when Rory couldn’t take sharing him any longer, Logan stepped up and changed to be with her. Jess ran away. His changes never came from being with Rory but from plain old growing up.

Who caused Rory to change?

Logan introduced Rory to a new world. The world of the upper class that was part of her DNA. While Lorelai fled the DAR, the country club and Friday night cocktail parties, Emily and Richard brought Rory in. It was in this season that brand new opportunities opened up for her. Logan mentored and protected Rory through Yale. A life she chose. She pursued the Life and Death Brigade. She pursued Logan. Logan caused Rory to see herself as something beyond a book geek and small town girl.

Jess, on the other hand, confronted Rory in her dorm room, demanding she choose Yale or him. He selfishly wanted her to run away, leaving everything behind that she’d worked so hard to achieve. He ignored her most of her dreams, only seeing what he wanted. He wasn’t willing to change, preferring to draw her into his mapless world. He never understood or respected the country club aspect of Rory’s life.

Who encouraged Rory’s dreams?



Logan earns the highest points here. He was there for her that dreadful night the Yale Daily News almost didn’t go to press! He encouraged her as editor and as a writer. His nickname, Ace, spoke right to her passion and destiny. Logan’s family had the connections Rory wanted and needed—though she turned them down—to do what she loved. Logan understood the journalist in her.

Jess was not a part of Rory’s transformation. He never supported who she was becoming. I know Team Jess will say he encouraged her to write, even gave her the idea to write the Gilmore Girls book, but that’s just being a friend. I’ll give you he was that!

What did they have in common?



While Logan was not from a small town, he stood at the entrance to Rory’s move into a broader and higher class life. Logan and Rory had Yale, friends, and a similar social circle. His parents were friends with her grandparents. Jess understood the Stars Hollow Rory.

Sometimes. I recall him challenging her to get out of the backwards, hick place. Other than the love of books, Jess and Rory never seemed to have much in common.

Whom did Rory say she loved?

Logan.

Who said he loved her back?

Logan.

Whom did Rory pursue when she had a chance?



Logan.

When she met Jess at his coffee shop/bookstore/artist hangout, Rory had a chance to choose Jess. But she did not accept his subtle invitation to be with him. She wanted Logan. She’s always wanted Logan.

A question worth asking: Who has the best ABS? Logan! Come on … please.

Logan is Rory’s Luke

• Luke gets Lorelai’s snappy repartee and coffee addiction. Logan gets Rory’s. And banters back.

• Luke has always loved Lorelai. Logan has always loved Rory. Even though he’s engaged to Odette, there was a sense he wanted Rory to confess her love for him.

• Luke proposed to Lorelai. Logan proposed to Rory.

• Luke has a hard time expressing his feelings. Logan has a hard time expressing his feelings. Lorelai said, “I love you,” first. Rory said, “I love you,” first.

• Lorelai went from the country club to Stars Hollow to Luke.

• Rory went from Stars Hollow to the country club (Yale) to Logan.

• Luke has this odd loyalty to his family even though they drive him crazy.

• Logan has the same odd loyalty.

Jess is Rory’s Christopher

• Christopher was selfish, abandoning Lorelai to raise Rory alone. Same with Jess. He was selfish, angry, and abandoned Rory when things didn’t go his way.

• Christopher never really knew what he wanted to do or who he wanted to be. Same with Jess. Though both figured it out in the end.

• Christopher hated the country club set. Jess hated the country club set.

• Christopher understood Lorelai because they had a history. But he never knew how to take her where she wanted to go. Jess understood Rory wanted to spread her wings and fly, but not how to get her there.

• Christopher was the man who would always be in and out of Lorelai’s life. Jess is that same man to Rory.

• Christopher missed the monumental moments in Lorelai’s life. Jess missed Rory’s.

SUSAN: Rach, you almost have me thinking Rory and Logan are destined for each other. Almost. One thing still niggles at me. I will share what it is in the end. But let’s hear from Katie.

KATIE HERE: I, personally, think the end was a genius move. Because from now until Jesus returns, this will be the ongoing debate amongst Gilmore fans. Who does Rory end up with? Nobody gets to say they are unequivocally right (unless Amy comes out and gives us an answer, which would honestly make me quite sad).

As Susan says, we have three doors. Three possibilities. I’ve developed my own theory. But first, we must address the conundrum that is Rory.

As much as I loved the revival as a whole, I was mostly baffled by 32-year old Rory Gilmore. I never believed for a second that this is where we’d find her in her thirties. The girl who knew what she wanted to be since … forever? Driven, principled, type-A Rory? Yes, I know. She had her lost, aimless moments and her fair share of giant mistakes, but that was when she was barely twenty.

I mean, for real. What has she even been doing for the past ten years? Writing that article for the New Yorker?

I don’t really get it, and I think the foreignness of this new Rory makes our postulating all the more tricky, since we’re not really sure who she is anymore. With that said, let’s move on.

I have no idea why the words, “Mom, I’m pregnant” left my mouth so hugely agape. The entirety of the revival’s theme was the cyclical nature of our lives, and Rory falling pregnant outside of wedlock—faced with the same decision her mother was faced with—is very much cyclical. But shock me, it did.

Originally (once I picked my jaw up off the floor), I thought, “Logan is her Christopher.” And you know what? I was completely okay with that scenario. I’ve al ways been a big fan of Christopher.

I love the relationship he and Lorelei have. I love that no matter who Lorelei chooses, Christopher will always be a part of her life. If that was the role Logan was destined to fill, then that was okay. More than okay, actually. It seemed to really fit. Until I woke up the next morning with a niggling thought in my head.

 

All I knew was that I was delighted to finally see Christopher, and also, what aging potion has he been drinking?

RACHEL: Ha!

SUSAN: Right?! Christopher looked like he’d spent the last decade sipping coffee at the Fountain of Youth Café…

I kept returning to that scene—the one between Rory and Christopher. Unlike Rachel, I had no inkling that Rory was pregnant at the time. That scene kept budging up, front and center, in my mind.

I remember watching it, perplexed. Because up until that moment, Rory never struck me as a girl with daddy-issues. She seemed content with Christopher’s role in her life. Sure, their relationship had its ups and its downs, but never once did I think that Rory was in want of more. Lorelei was her everything. Then the scene unfolds, and suddenly, I see Rory in a different light.

RACHEL: Good insight. I think you’re right.

SUSAN: Oh, how very right you are. This scene changed everything for me but not until we three started talking about it.

Christopher keeps insisting that his lack of involvement was the way it was meant to be. Lorelei and Rory were “in the cards”. And all the while, Rory looks wholly unconvinced. That’s why the scene was so jarring to me. I remember thinking, “She doesn’t agree with him. Rory Gilmore doesn’t think her mom made the right choice.”

Without knowing yet that Rory was contemplating the future of her own child, the whole thing was a mind-scratcher. Why, at 32, is she all of a sudden doubting her mother’s decision? And this is where my theory comes in: It’s one thing for Lorelei to raise her child on her own. It’s another thing for Rory, who grew up without a father, to choose that same path.

Yes, the revival was about coming full circle. But coming full circle doesn’t mean Rory must turn into a carbon copy of her mother. In fact, I think the idea of her choosing a different path from her mother carries more poignancy. Rory can’t help but wonder, “What if?”

What if Lorelei wouldn’t have been so determined to do this thing on her own? Who knows! Maybe Rory wouldn’t be living at home at the age of 32, under the delusion that writing a book is somehow going to pay any of the bills.

I’m increasingly convinced that Rory is going to tell Logan. That Rory wants to tell Logan. Because love it or hate it, as you so eloquently say Rach, Rory loves Logan. And Logan (who is afraid to ask her for more, given her rejection at the end of S7) would never leave her to raise a kid on her own.

RACHEL: Agree! Rory is the only woman who caused him to change, to be stand-up. See my arguments for Logan to why I think he’d be a part of the baby’s life.

SUSAN: I’m still not convinced Logan is Rory’s one-and-only kindred soulmate. Nor even the father of this child. Must I remind you both of Rory’s totally-out-of-character one-night-stand? (A contrived plot detail to be sure, but one we can’t ignore.)

KATIE: Well, I don’t think it can be the wookie’s, as she would have been quite far along, given the timing of when it all happened. And she was drinking with Logan when the Life and Death Brigade appeared. I know Rory is not herself, but I don’t think she’d drink while pregnant. So … Logan’s baby.

This is the door I’m choosing to walk through.

In my happy place, the Rory and Logan ship will finally set sail. And this ship will not sink. But even if it did, “You jump, I jump, Jack.”

RACHEL: I’m with you walking through that door, Katie. Rory is the only woman Logan ever changed for and she seems to find him a constant “home base.”

SUSAN HERE:: Katie, you’ve nailed a point so perfectly; the one thing that makes me think that maybe there is a future for Rory that begins with a fourth door. Such thought-provoking commentary naturally leads to questions and ponderings!

Before we turn over the mike to you, dear readers, let’s have a short Q & A to set the stage for an even more lively comments section:

So, Katie and Rachel, I can see that you are both Team Logan fans. Does it concern you that Logan isn’t huge on fidelity? If he and Rory were to marry, what would this marriage look like in ten years? Or do you see them quasi-partnered but not married and therefore okay with occasional sleeps with other people?

RACHEL: I think that should be a concern for sure! But Logan and Rory’s affair points to the fact they still love each other. Odette doesn’t know what she’s up against. Logan has never been faithful to anyone BUT Rory. He sorta cheated on her once when they were “taking a break,” and he bitterly regretted it. So when it comes to Rory, Logan would be faithful. To be fair, they’re both dogs for cheating together on Odette. “Run, Odette, Run!!”

KATIE: Here’s the thing. It became obvious that his engagement to Odette wasn’t under any pretense of love. He called it the dynastic plan, or something like that. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to imagine that it was just as much a dynastic move on Odette’s side. Perhaps the two had an understanding. Maybe Odette had her own “Rory”. Still totally messed up, for sure. But it’s what Amy Sherman-Palladino gave us. And since Rory refuses to bring up marriage, since she never once (that we can see) asks Logan to leave Odette and be with her, gun-shy Logan isn’t going to be the one to push. Not after Rory’s rejection at the end of S7. I think Logan is capable of committing. I think he’s still hopelessly in love with Rory. With that said, did the entire cheating situation make me horribly uncomfortable? Heck to the yes. I didn’t like it one bit.

KATIE: What do you think, ladies? Did you find 32-year old Rory believable?

RACHEL: She was not believable. In fact, author great Susan May Warren and I were talking about Rory and felt she became younger as the show went on! She seemed more mature at 15 than at 32.

First, for a seasoned journalist her career should’ve been more established. After all she is THE Rory Gilmore. The “myth” of this girl who could do everything and be anyone she wanted never panned out on the screen. We’re told she’s brilliant and awesome and everyone loves her but when she playes out her life, she makes bad decisions, she chooses to be unanchored when the whole series she was the anchored GG.

She was the girl who edited the Yale Daily New and used the word “hubris” correctly on a Ivy League panel. But in this series, she seemed lost. Unsure. Went into interviews without confidence, unprepared.

She was supposed to be so busy she never lived in her Brooklyn apartment yet at the end of the day, she had no jobs, lead or connections. The crazy celebrity book she was working on couldn’t have been her only opportunity. I never really understood that story line OR why she constantly traveled to London.

I feel like the writers were never really ready to let Rory grow up. I also didn’t buy she wanted to live out of boxes 32. That’s not her personality. I get the writers doing that with her after college, but not “again” at 32.

I’d love more episodes seeing her raising her daughter and decided to MARRY Logan. Not another Lorelai story but one that creates a cohesive family like Emily and Richard.

SUSAN: This is a great question because it gets to the heart of why I think there might be a fourth door here. And that door is located in Christopher’s office.

You are absolutely right, Katie. Rory doesn’t leave that office satisfied with the answer her father gives her. She is troubled when he hands her the coffee (of course, there is coffee) at the beginning of this scene and she’s still troubled when she leaves.

His answer doesn’t give her the clarity she is desperate for and underscores why I am neither Team Jess or Team Logan or Team Rory solo. What I get out of this scene is that Rory clearly doesn’t believe she was meant to be raised without a father’s daily influence.

RACHEL: Sooz, so good. I’ll conceded this is a great door to examine!

SUSAN: Right. So Rory is wondering, as am I, if she would have made different choices if Christopher had had a more direct role in her life. Rory began to unravel for me when at 19 she lost her virginity to a married man. She continued to unravel, such that thirteen years later Yale-educated Rory is now homeless, unemployed, direction-less, alone, and having an affair with a man engaged to be married to someone else.

I barely recognize this Rory from the 15-year-old schoolgirl I met in Season One. And in Christopher’s office, she realizes she doesn’t recognize this woman either.

The fourth door could be that Rory will fall in love with the kind of man who will reconnect her to the woman she might have been if she’d had the fullness of a loving dad’s presence in her life. That man will be her husband and will partner with her in raising this child. That man will make the 150 episodes and Rory’s depressing decline worth the watching.

RACHEL: I nominate you to write the next episodes! Whether the writers intended or not, they’ve depicted the pitfalls of fatherlessness.

SUSAN: The people who love us best bring out the best in us. She has yet to meet the man who loves her best. But I believe it’s possible she will.

RACHEL: Wow! Now there’s the story! Falling in love with the one who brings out the best in us! Find that man Rory!

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!

Tell us what you think? Did you like the ending? Are you Team Logan, Team Jess, Team Rory Solo, or Team 4th Door? What is possible in the GG life? Were you happy with the shows? What did you love or dislike the most?

Chime in! The comment pool is feeling fine!

More information: Here’s an Entertainment Weekly interview with the GG show creators!

The post Three Girls Discussing Gilmore Girls appeared first on Rachel Hauck.

Thanksgiving Is About More Than Being Thankful… Or Turkey

Thanksgiving. First celebrated by Pilgrims in 1621, it was a tradition they brought with them from England.

Protestants wanted to celebrate God’s providence with thanksgiving. And they wanted to commemorate seasons of judgment – drought, flooding, pestilence – with fasting.

Scripturally, we see God’s call to gratitude and thanksgiving in such verses as Psalm 28:7, Psalm 69:30, and Psalm 95:1-6.

I love a holiday that legitimately calls me to thankfulness. And yes, I love turkey.And the family dinner roll recipe.

This year has been one of my most successful ever as an author. Starting at the end of February, I spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list with a four-year-old book, The Wedding Dress. The book also spent a good bit of time on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

I just sat back, watching the Lord work. The combination of an Amazon sale and a bit of advertising from my publisher, and the book achieved new heights.

In June, my husband and I enjoyed a great vacation. First with extended family, then just the two of us at a lakeside cabin.

Halfway through the years, I had more good news come my way, and more dreams are coming true.

But you know what? I struggled. My pessimistic side emerged. “What will next year look like?” “Will this keep happening?” “What does this success really mean?” “Look at what’s going on with that author. She’s doing so much better than me.”

Here I am in the midst of God blessing me and I’m wondering about the future. Or I’m assuming another’s success will kill my own.

Children of Israel in the wilderness anyone? “God, what are you doing? Where are you taking us? We don’t have good food to eat? My feet are sore.”

By the time August rolled around and we were in a position to buy my dream car, a Mustang convertible, I was in knots.

God had provided so much, and yet I got fixed on “What about next year? What about taxes?”

I couldn’t sleep. I had no peace. I was gripped by soul-deep fear.

We bought the car the night before I had to head out of town. I came straight home from the dealer, parked the car and went inside. I should’ve been thrilled! Ecstatic! Jumping for joy! Instead, I wrestled with ugly emotions and thoughts.

I won’t bore you with those details, but I’d given into the one who steals, kills and destroys.

Around eleven p.m., I wasn’t sleeping. So, I grabbed my guitar and headed to the garage. I paced alongside the ‘Stang, singing to a melody two chords could produce. That’s all I know on the guitar: two chords. But the power of worship knows no bounds.

Not five minutes into singing, my heart before the Lord, He answered. “Sing this. ‘My car is a gift from my Father and He holds my future in His hands.'”

With tears, I sang His song over me and in moments the anxiety and darkness of my decision lifted. I went to bed and slept soundly.

The more I drive my red Mustang, the more I love it. But it took the Father’s perspective to physically change my mind, my heart, and my emotions.

When Thanksgiving is opposed by the enemy, it must be met with the power of the Holy Spirit. Anyone can wrestle their anger, jealousy, envy, lust into submission for a while. And we all war against our negative, sinful selves.

But it’s an encounter with the living Lord that truly changes us.

I’m not all the way there. I still wrestle with issues from time to time, but I know He’s calling me to something higher and greater. If He wants it for me and I’m running after him, how will I not be changed?

So this Thanksgiving, be thankful. Eat turkey and bake your grandma’s pie recipe. Those traditions can’t be beat. But let the thankfulness of your heart be met with the One who changes us from death to life.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for each one of you. Thank you for being such a wonderful blessing on my writer’s journey.

What has God shown you about Thanksgiving? What are you thankful for this year?

The post Thanksgiving Is About More Than Being Thankful… Or Turkey appeared first on Rachel Hauck.