I have watched “Gilmore Girls.” I watched this TV show in the company of girls I loved. Watching “Gilmore Girls” gave us a common language that helped us understand each other just a bit better.

A few years removed from focusing on Rory Gilmore as the touchstone of the show, I have settled on the belief that the real heroes of the show are the characters of the musty, crusty, waspy grandparents, Emily and Richard Gilmore.

You can get over their wealth and privilege and entitlement the same why you got over how Stars Hollow is not Grover’s Corners.

OK, back to Emily and Richard. They are badass. Here’s why:

1. In the middle of the series, Richard grew a mustache.
2. Emily and Richard threw a birthday party for Rory, born out of wedlock by Lorelei. The grandparents invited all their musty, crusty, waspy friends. Taking the moral high ground, they make these people accept Rory.
3. In their ye olde college days, Emily stole Richard ‘s heart after he was engaged to another woman.
4. Richard works on restoring cars. In his driveway.
5. Emily and Richard show up for everything, including Lorelei’s graduation from the local community college. It wasn’t Vassar, as they had planned, but they cried tears of proud parents.
6. Richard always seems to show up with a check in an envelope.
7. Emily takes Rory on the Grand Tour of Europe and convincingly flirts with Italian men in front of her granddaughter.
8. Emily likes Lorelei’s friends more than she likes her own friends.
9. Emily and Richard are not perfect. They can be downright dreadful at times (c.f., Richard manipulating Rory to matriculate at Yale, Emily manipulating Lorelei to reconcile with Christopher).
10. Emily and Richard are unconditional in their love of Lorelei and Rory. When Rory is arrested for stealing a yacht, Richard’s first instinct is to get her a lawyer, not admonish her over the obvious.
11. Emily and Richard are the only characters in the show who demonstrate the ability to learn from their mistakes.