Meredith Vieira: 'Keep your sense of humor'

Home life
I saw your beautiful home in Traditional Home magazine. Do you always keep it so clean and organized with fresh flowers all around?
-- Jeff Wolcott from Seattle, Washington

Dear Jeff: I would love to say I always keep my home clean and organized with fresh flowers… but that would be a lie. If you saw it today, the flowers in the foyer are wilted… the cats dragged in a dead bird and mouse and left them in the mudroom and the dog ran through one of our screen doors. Not to mention we now have one of those huge cat scratching posts. It’s actually the last piece of “furniture” I bought because the cats have been wrecking the leather chairs you saw in one of the pictures. In other words, it’s back to normal!

“Today” crew
What is your Rhode Island connection with Matt Lauer?
-- Paul Comey from Milpitas, California

Dear Paul: Sometimes I fell Matt and I were separated at birth since we were born on the same day, December 30. There’s just one problem: He’s younger! We both worked at WJAR TV in Providence (the NBC affiliate), but at different times!

What’s in a name
Hi Meredith! I have a daughter named Meredith and she was so excited to hear you coming to the “Today” show. My question to you is… How did you get your name? Does it have any special meaning to your family? I am a teacher and it was one of the few names that I never had in my classes.
-- Linda Moeller from Maria Stein, Ohio

Dear Linda: My mom named me Meredith because she liked it. She was also a bit of an anglophile. It had no special meaning to my family, but I always loved it because it was different. I never knew any other Meredith’s growing up, which is one of the reasons I hated it when people shortened the name and called me Merry.

Dream interview
Meredith: First of all, congratulations for joining such a wonderful team. You did more celebrity-type interviews on “The View.” Who would you like to interview and why? Also, will you be doing any primetime specials for NBC?
-- Dee from Sugar Land, Texas

Dear Dee: There’s no one person in particular that I would like to interview. I’m most fascinated by so-called “ordinary” people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances or behave in extraordinary ways. For example, I have a neighbor who recently lost her 14 year-old son in a terrible drowning accident. It turns out he died from something called shallow water blackout. Instead of letting their grief consume them, this courageous woman and her husband have decided they must get out the word about shallow water blackout in order to honor their son and also prevent other families from going through what they have. I would be proud to interview them and tell their story.

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Video: Meredith's first week at 'Today' Blog: An inside view of the new 'Today' Video: Lauer welcomes Vieira to 'Today' Video: Vieira recounts pre-'Today' career For Meredith Vieira, it's finally ‘Today’ Vieira: 'Keep your sense of humor' Getting to know Meredith Video: Viewers see Meredith's baby photo Video: Meredith describes 'blind date' with Matt Good Housekeeping: Meredith Uncensored Today: It's a New Day Today Section Front   Add Today: It's a New Day Today headlines to your news reader: