(audience cheering) - You have a big fan?
- You made me laugh. - Yes.
- Who said Hoda Mama? - Love "Hope Is a Rainbow," Hoda Mama, got everything up there. - Hi baby!
- Hi! You're a country music fan. - I am such a huge fan of Lainey's. I could not believe that we
were here on the same day. When I go, "Oh, who's gonna be there?" And they go, "Lainey, will sing," and I go, "'Lainey? Lainey?'" - I was gonna be here the
same, I'm very excited. But you, I have to say, every
time I'm at the "Today" show, I cry inside for you
because it's so early. Like it's so-
(Hoda and audience laughs) You have to wake up at like what, 2:33? - Okay, my alarm goes off at 3:00. And then I have one of
those other alarms at 3:10. But let me tell you
something about the morning. This sounds weird. That hour between 3:00 and 4:00 is my only quiet hour of the day. So, you know what, when
I get up, I'm like this. I'll take my 3:00 to 4:00, like that 3:00 AM to
4:00 AM, it's a shower, it's kind of getting myself like together. - Caffeine.
- It is really hard though. I mean, getting up at 3:00
AM every single day is hard. - I don't think I'd ever get used to it. - So here's the truth. I do have one day that's
totally and completely for me and I-
- I heard about this. - It's called Thankful Thursday. - Yeah.
- It's my day. And I tell my kids, my kids who are seven
and about to be five. I tell them that that's mom's day and I will do my stuff but afterwards, there's a place on 79th
Street in Amsterdam that does like, you're in the big La-Z-Boy and they do the leg massage
for like 30 bucks, for 30, you know, the one- - Like reflexology or something? - Like any moment that
I can get to myself, but I do have to say something I did, something did happen the other day that hasn't happened in two years. - What? - I had a date. I had a date.
(audience cheers) And I have to say...
- That's huge. That's huge. Even to be in a place to do that. - But you know, but just,
you know what it was? Just a date. It was nothing but a date. But I have have to say, it felt like, think about, do you ever think about
going out on a date? - Not at all. (Hoda and audience laughs) Not even a little bit.
- Not even a tiny? - I am really loving not
having a man in my life. Like, it's just too hard. There's too much.
- It's too much. What makes it too much? Just everything.
- There's all the jobs, plus the kids, plus being present for the
kids while you're there. 'cause you know, 'cause sometimes we get, people will still email you and I'm like, "No, no,
no, we're home now." - "We're home now."
- "We're not doing this." - "It's over." Can I just say one thing that you've done that I think is amazing and I just, I'm gonna put a word to it. You left your life that you had and you did something that
I'm calling like repotting. You pulled yourself up girl, by your roots and your roots were dangling in the air. - Weren't they? - You must have thought
like, "Am I gonna land? "What's gonna happen? "I might be dying." - "I might've been
medicated," yeah. (chuckles) - And all of a sudden
you brought those roots to New York City. You stuck them in fertile ground. Look what has happened to
you since you moved here. - No, yeah.
(audience cheers and applauds) - Like everything has changed. - Yeah. - Like, I feel like I'm
watching this in slow motion. You are going from, and I loved you before and I thought you were amazing before. You are flourishing in a way that I did not see all those years ago. And when I see you in the hall, or when I see you on TV or
when I see you right now, sitting across from you.
- Yeah. - Give me those hands.
- Okay. I'm cold.
- Sitting across from you. I don't care.
- Okay. - You are flourishing, my girl. - Thank you.
- And I'm so proud of you. (audience cheers and applauds) - She's got a new kids book out now. It's called "Hope Is a Rainbow". I'm gonna ask you why do we name it this? Obviously Hope. - Yeah, I got a little girl named Hope. Who, you know what's so funny about kids? You choose a name for them and then you don't realize how they're going to become that name. I didn't know when I named her Hope. I mean, I had been of
course hoping and dreaming and praying for her. And wishing one day she'd come and you know, for anyone
who's an adoptive parent, what happens is your phone rings and the person on the other
end says, "She's here." And that's like a birth. That's the closest I'll ever come to it and it is so moving and beautiful. And when Hope-y came into my
life, I knew her name was Hope. And now over the years I've
watched her personify that word. I mean it is, she's an amazing, both my daughters Haley and
Hope are both amazing kids. But Hope is the sunny side kid. She always, no matter what's
going on, "It's okay." "We'll wait." "Don't worry, mom," she's four. Like she's gonna be five and when I watch her, I am enamored. - Aw. - This book is based on her. It's about kids who see the sunny side, or kids who want to, if you're
not the kid who is, who does. And it's like at the end of
the crummiest day in the world, there's, guess what? You get another one, girl. You get a whole another day. It's for you and I think- - Sun's coming up tomorrow
and a new day, yeah. - Yeah, and I think it's about optimism because life is, you know, you
choose to see what you want. Like someone could look
around in here and say, "This is the best day of my life." And someone else might say, "My gosh, I'm starving for lunch. "When is this taping gonna be over?" But everyone- - You can actually been both of us people. - Or, you could be both.
- Yeah. - But you get to choose your adventure. And I your think that's kind
of what the book's about. It's like you choose. You get to decide. - Did you feel any pressure? Because I know we both have a couple kids and it's like, I wrote a
couple books for River. - I remember. - And you wrote for Haley. And then Remy was like, "Where's my book?" And I was like, is that, did you feel that pressure in Hope? - She was like, "Haley's got that one. "Is mine coming?"
- I know. - I'm like, "Yes sweetie." I'm like, "Oh God!" - I feel horrible.
- I felt guilty. - I know, I feel horrible 'cause he- - [Hoda] Does Remy? - Yeah, Remy's like, "Where's my book?" And I was like, "Well,
I started writing one, "but it was actually young adult. "So it's like a bigger, it's
like more of like a novel "rather than like a."
- Oh, okay, so. - Yeah, so, but yeah, he's
still waiting on that one. I was like, and I was like, I
mean, there's songs for her. There's like, there's a song for yours because I did it for, for
Haley, yeah, but then- - Just so you guys know, I wrote a book and I asked Kelly, I go, "Kelly is there anything
you can do with this book? "Put it to music?" And it's called, "I've
Loved You since Forever". Kelly was like this. "Oh, okay." She was, (hums). (audience laughs) Five seconds later she goes, "It's ready." I go, "It's ready? "What do you mean it's ready?" She played, "I've Loved You
Since Forever" that song. Not only, is it one of
the most beautiful songs, it charted because it's Kelly. - Well, it's well written.
(audience cheers and applauds) It's beautiful. - And number two, number two, I was at a beach bar one
day, toes in the sand. - Was this when you
called me or did a video? Okay.
- Drinking. And the guitar guy who's
playing James Taylor plays Kelly's, the song. And I go, "How do you?" He goes, "I love this
song, I heard it. (grunts)" I'm like, "Oh my God,
that's the song from Kelly." Let me go, "I heard it. (grunts)" (both laugh) - It was your song.
(audience cheers and applauds) It's cool. - The same.
- The same. The same. (laughs) - So what do you think you have
learned from your daughters? 'Cause I feel like I've
learned more about me honestly, through, and being a listener honestly, was a big thing for me.
- Yeah. I've just learned to be present. Like sometimes my, you know,
when I talk to my daughters and I look them in the eye, like so often, like Haley's eyes well up when we're talking about
something important. And I think to myself, "My
God, just slow down man." You get this moment. This is it. And this like, where we are today, this will never be duplicated. This will, this comes one time. - [Kelly] So stay present. - Yeah.
- I agree, I agree. Okay, so what have you learned? This is season five, right,
of your podcast, right? "Making Space," what have
you learned doing that? Just having all those
different conversations. - I love this whole podcast here. It's about what we were just saying, hitting pause on your life
and taking a minute for you. So I get to learn from all of
these really amazing people. We have, you know, Savannah's, who I know was sitting with you, Savannah has a podcast. Yeah, she's amazing. But each person who I
speak with talks about how they stop down. I like to know people's morning routines. How they start their day,
how they end their day, and how they make space for themselves. Every single person I
interview is incredible. I interviewed one guy who
said, "Every seven years, "reintroduce yourself to your partner "because you're different." So this is, "I used to
like eating at Chili's. "I don't like it anymore. "Stop making me go. "I don't like it."
- "I don't wanna go." - "I'm different now." But it's like reminding
your spouse, your partner, "I used to be this way, but I've evolved." You're not the same person
you were as a teenager, in your thirties and your
forties and your sixties. - Well, hopefully we all continually grow. - Yes.
- Yeah. - So it's like reminding those around you, you know how they're like,
"You're not like you used to be. "You're like."
- "Hell no," yeah. I'm a new and approved
version, yeah, yeah. (audience cheers and applauds) - You are, by the way.
- That what I'm saying. - Yes, yes.
- We all are. I think we want that.
- Yes, we do. - You don't wanna be stagnant. - No, we don't, we don't.
- Yeah. - So I learned a lot. So I hope you guys tune in. It's got, we got some great guests on. - I'm stealing your idea. I'm not gonna be Thursdays. I can't 'cause I work Thursdays. But I want Freedom Fridays. - Freedom Fridays! - Freedom Fridays shall be mine. (Hoda and audience applauds) That's what I'm calling them. - Let's have a date. - Yeah, you're Thankful
and I want Freedom Fridays. I'll come to the La-Z-Boy chair. This is my vibe girl.
- I'll meet you there. - Yeah.
- I'll meet you there. - And we can, and I
heard you're also the one that leaves the quickest at party. I'm the same when I arrive early and then I leave way too early. - By the way, the host is
like, "Why are you here? "The party's not for 15 more minutes." I'm like, "Because I
like to be here early. "And I meet everybody and then-" - Let's get it in there, say hi and then- - Hi, I'm leaving while
people are coming, "Hey girl!" "Bye!" - It's too much. The older we get the smaller kind of group is because it's like, you
want the authentic real, you wanna invest. I'm not good at small talk like that. It's very hard for me. - Yeah, me too.
- Anyway.
