Ever since I was a little girl, age ten or so, Kathie Lee Gifford has been my hero. I admit she's not perfect, no one is, and I know there are people who don't like her. I used to watch Live and wish that I could move in with Kathie Lee and her family. As I got older, I began to admire the kind of mother and wife she was. She was the first person I ever heard talk about God, and that is when I first started to believe that there was a God that loved me.
In May I went to a record signing at a local bookstore. I had been to many concerts, but had never met Kathie Lee in person. I wrote her a poem and I when I finally got up to meet her, she couldn't have been kinder. I told her of all the difficulties I had been through (including a suicide attempt) and gave her the poem, and she hugged me and started to cry. That was one of the very best days of my life. However, that's not all!
I got tickets to see Regis and Kathie Lee's final farewell concert at a local theater in the round. The show was great, they were both hysterical. I started crying at the end (they did too!). The woman I went with, Carmela, is a huge fan and she was even on their show once. I was still crying when we left the theater. Carmela, who is much more daring than I am, took me around the back to see if they would be leaving out that door. Well, she dragged me into a huge crowd, and I started to panic. All of a sudden I heard Kathie Lee talking and I just froze. Carmela shoved me up closer and Kathie Lee looked straight at me. She grabbed my hand and said, "I remember you - you came to see me at Borders!" The crowd let me through and I handed over another poem I wrote just a couple hours before. She looked at me and I was crying and I said, "I don't know what I'm going to do in the morning now without you." And she took my face in her hands and said, "You're going to watch Regis." And I said, "No, not without you." And she said, "You're going to watch Regis and the new person because she's going to need your support." And then she said, "You're not hurting yourself anymore are you?" And I told her that I hadn't but that I still felt really depressed sometimes. She gave me a hug and said, "I want you to say to yourself every day, 'I am a precious child of God and my life has a good purpose." And she was still hugging me! So I said ok, and she let go. But she looked me right in the eye and said, "No, repeat it, NOW." I wasn't about to argue, so I did and she said, "Good girl. I want you to remember that when life gets hard. Say it every day, and someday you're going to meet me and say, 'Kathie Lee, guess how wonderful my life is.'" And then Carmela gave her a T-shirt I bought earlier and she signed it for me. By this time she was really crying and she said, "Darn you, you did it again, you made me cry!" And she kept the poem!
I honestly didn't know if I would talk to Kathie Lee again after meeting her in the bookstore. I couldn't believe that with all of those peole there she pretended it was just us for a few minutes. Now, I don't care what anyone else says or thinks (which is rare for me!) - to me, Kathie Lee is a truly remarkable woman. I will always remember the kindness she showed me.
These are some of my favorite Kathie Lee quotes:
"When you write from your soul and the depths of your heart it's a healing thing."
"My daddy told me, 'find something you love to do and figure out a way to get paid for it.' I've just been doing what I love to do and success followed. If the passion is there the joy will be there. If the joy is there success will follow."
"God made children beautiful on the outside but parents make children beautiful on the inside."
"Inspiration always follows beauty."
David Letterman's List of The Top Ten Things Kathie Lee Will Do
Related Links
On the Lamb Records
The View
Kathie Lee.Com