Lauren Graham - Have I Told You This Already? : Stories I Dont Want to Forget to Remember

Stories have always been important to me. As a kid, I lived for the stories my dad would tell me about his childhood growing up in Valley Stream, New York, where hed hitchhike home from football practice in his Catholic school uniform. During my first few years of elementary school, I fell in love with reading and would read anything I could get my hands on as long as it was about a horse, or a girl who had a horse, or a girl who wanted a horse and got one even if she lived with her family in a small walk-up apartment in Manhattan. Eventually my interests expanded a bit, and in high school and college and in my graduate acting program I was thrilled to read everything from Jane Austen to the classics of dramatic literature to breezy novels intended to be read on a beach. When I graduated and first started working professionally here and there, I was excited to act in other peoples stories, whether in a laundry detergent commercial or a small guest part on a show. Whether I was a mom who was worried about packing a nutritional lunch (one line in a Jiffy peanut butter commercial), or a student who was being asked about the homework assignment (three lines in the daytime drama Loving), I was living my dream of being a storyteller.

Eventually, I got some bigger parts with more complex tales to tell, and now that Im in my 30s, Im looking forward to all the stories that are yet to beWAIT. WHAT? The legal department has just informed me that Im not in my 30s anymore. How is that even possible? It seems like just yesterday that I was lying to all the casting people about being 28 because IMDb hadnt been invented yet and Google wasnt really a thing. It seems like just yesterday that I filmed all day in Los Angeles and then took a red-eye to New York in order to do a photo shoot after which I went to a U2 concert and went out after and flew back the next day and didnt feel tired at all. It seems like just yesterday that, on the very day I turned 32, I was cast as Lorelai in Gilmore Girls, a part that would change my life for the better. Oh, well. At least we have a brand-new season of Gilmore Girls to look forward to, and that way we can relive all the wondrous olden times togethWAIT. WHAT? Lawyers have just informed me that there is no new season of Gilmore Girls on the horizon, and I can be sued/canceled on Twitter for suggesting there is. How is that even possible? What is this book even about if Im not going to explain the final four words or tell you whos the father of Rorys baby?

If youve missed Gilmore Girls, the truth is that Ive missed you too, and this book is one way of keeping our conversation going. I loved writing my last book of essays, Talking as Fast as I Can, and even without any new stories about the show, I found I had more to say. And if youve never seen Gilmore Girls, then youre in luck, because Im mainly telling other stories here: about stuffing my bra for work, shoplifting by accident, what its like being in a long-term relationship with New York City. (Spoiler: I love it, but its expensive and doesnt always smell great.)

Have I told you this already? is a phrase I use so often that its become a joke among my oldest and dearest friends and family. These are the people whove been there with me through bad breakups and failed exams and questionable haircuts and dinner parties that went into the wee hours, and Ive been there through those things with them too. Weve heard each others stories over and over by now, but somehow we still cant wait to hear them again. These are friends who are such an essential part of my life that sometimes its hard to remember if Ive told them something already or if Ive told them but they havent heard the most recent version, or if they were actually with me when the whatever-it-was happened. These relationships are invaluable, and as Ive gotten older I only value them more.

And youre part of this group too: you are people with whom Ive shared stories for so long now that in some cases I had to go back to my first book to make sure I hadnt told you some of them already. Id like to take this opportunity to tell you how grateful I am to have you as a viewer and a reader and a GIF-maker and a whatever the thing is called where you film yourself lip-syncing entire scenes of mine on Instagram.

Youre all the best!

Ne Oublie

Im certain I graduated from college, but I havent seen my diploma in over twenty years. I cant find the parking ticket I got yesterday. Its probably sitting in the same drawer alongside the one I cant find from last week. At age 14, I remember holding my social security card for approximately five minutes before I misplaced it and never saw it again. Last week, I found a watch I thought Id lost months ago inside of a shoe. Perhaps thats why Im pretty good at memorizing lines of dialogue and peoples phone numbersI cant be counted on to save the paper I wrote them on, and even if I put the info into my phone, it might take me a while to remember where I left it. I lose my phone, my wallet, and my keys multiple times a day. Sometimes, Ill go into the kitchen to find that book Ive been reading and two hours later I have organized the silverware drawer but have zero recollection of what I came into the kitchen for. One fish goes this way, the other fish goes that way, is how a friend once described these absentminded tendencies. I am a Pisces, after all.

Possibly, I got it from my dad. Growing up, I didnt own a set of house keys. He probably lost his own set too many times before he gave up and decided it was easier just to leave the front door open (please dont break into my dads house). As a teen, I was taught to leave car keys in the ignition, because how else was anyone supposed to find them? (Please dont steal my dads car.) To this day, my father is well known for driving away with a coffee mug still on the roof of his car, and even though everyone in the family has bought him countless pairs of nicer sunglasses, the only ones he seems unable to lose are the neon-green mirrored ones intended for road biking.