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This morning was Meredith Vieira’s last day on The Today Show after five years as co-anchor. Meredith, 57, announced in May that she would be leaving “in a few weeks” in order to spend more time with her family. Meredith’s husband of 25 years, TV journalist Richard M. Cohen, has multiple sclerosis and she wants to spend more time with him. The couple has three grown children, the youngest of which is 18, and want to travel and relax together. Before the announcement that she would leave her post, Meredith said that it was a possibility and “that she would look forward to not working, to traveling with Richard and carving out time for us.”

Ann Curry will step in to Meredith’s place as co-anchor beside Matt Lauer. It’s clear that Meredith will be missed on the show. They aired an incredibly long tribute to her and brought in Carole King to sing “You’ve Got a Friend.” At the end, everyone in the studio wore bright orange shirts declaring their love for Meredith as they brought her around the studio and lip synced “Don’t Stop Believing.” (Kathie Lee and Hoda’s T-Shirts said “Wine lovers [heart] Meredith”!) They dragged it out a very long time and it reached ridiculous levels at the end. They ran around the streets of New York and Jimmy Fallon played air guitar while a huge procession of people in those t-shirts clapped and did a coordinated dance for her. The video where they say goodbye to Meredith is above, but it leaves out the most impressive section, when they were all dancing and singing for her.

It was all really touching. My favorite part was when Meredith said that she’ll always remember the Virginia Tech students asking her for hugs after the tragic shooting there in 2007. I couldn’t help but cry at that. There was plenty of tears, hugs and kisses for Meredith today.

My mom retired early at 55, and she keeps busy with part time work and plenty of clubs and activities. She’s got a busier schedule than I do, but she loves that her timetable is flexible now, and that she doesn’t have to get up at the same time and go to the same place every day. Meredith will continue her hosting duties on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” but that’s not an everyday commitment like The Today Show and will afford her more time with her family. Good luck to Meredith in her future endeavors. She’ll really be missed, especially since a lot of people find Ann Curry to be a twit. I didn’t mean to throw that in this otherwise nice story, but I can’t help it, Curry really bugs me. Maybe if she fixed her eyebrows I wouldn’t be as bothered by that breathy way she talks and the way she fawns all over the celebrities.

Highlights of Meredith’s career:

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