If you could live in any fictional world, most people immediately say Harry Potter. And I get it. The moving staircases. The secret shops. The butterbeer. The fact that an owl can apparently handle the postal system better than the USPS.

But the older I get, the more I realize I don’t actually want to live in Hogwarts.

For one thing, the healthcare system seems questionable. The government is dysfunctional. There are approximately 47 opportunities for a child to be murdered every semester. And I have some concerns about a school where the adults routinely respond to danger with, “Well, let’s see what happens.”

So I started thinking about where would I actually belong?

And I think I want to live somewhere that feels slightly more magical than real life but still has coffee, bookstores, eccentric people, good conversations, complicated women, and a town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

Basically, I want Stars Hollow.

I want to walk into a diner and have someone know my order. I want absurd town meetings. I want quirky neighbors with strong opinions about everything. I want people to gather for festivals that nobody really needs but everyone attends anyway. I want a bookstore, a ridiculous amount of coffee, and a community that is simultaneously supportive and deeply annoying.

I don’t necessarily want dragons.

I want lore.

I want a place with history, characters, inside jokes, rituals, ghosts of old relationships, and at least one person everyone knows is completely insane but somehow remains on the planning committee.

Maybe that’s what I’m really looking for in a fictional world. Not escape from reality, but a more interesting version of it.

A world where ordinary life has a little more plot.

And preferably better coffee.