Turning Thirty: Re-Watching Felicity

I'm turning thirty years old on July 6th so for the next five weeks, I'm embracing life and trying to do at least one new and/or enjoyable and/or spectacular thing per day. Click here for more Turning Thirty posts.




There have only been a few television shows over the years that have really struck a chord with me.  No show has more closely reflected my life than Felicity, the Keri Russell-led drama about a girl from California starting college in New York City that ran from 1999 through 2003.  Felicity coincided with my own college years almost perfectly, and I was hooked after the first episode.  I saw so much of myself in this leading fictional character, this young woman who was scared but brave, smart but not always the best decision-maker.  Her hair was curly and frizzy like mine; she had been shy and kind of lonely throughout high school like me.  But most importantly, she was living the life that I wanted for myself in New York City.

I didn't wind up going to New York University like I had dreamed, but I still had a poignant college experience.  Coincidentally, I was pre-med like Felicity but by sophomore year, I had dropped that and really fell in love with fiction and English literature.  I felt myself growing and changing almost daily during those years, but every week without fail, my roommate and I sat down to watch Felicity together.  When the finale aired,  I was sad but hopeful. I had so many expectations for my college years, and so many for my future, and I was excited for what was to come.

I started rewatching Felicity during my lunch hours last fall.  It took me much longer than I thought it would to finish the series but I wound up savoring each episode. This time around, I cried when Felicity graduated from college. I knew the emptiness she felt when she said goodbye to all of her friends and headed back to California. And I finally understood why she wound up with Ben in the end (I was a staunch Noel supporter for years). 

I'm grateful for the extra time with Felicity though.  It reminded me of how far I've come in the past decade, even if it doesn't always feel like that.  And if it was up to me, I still would have picked Noel. xo