Hoda Kotb took her daughter with her for a trip down memory lane over the weekend.
Hoda brought Hope, 4, with her to the 60th anniversary of her high school's opening and even called her up to the podium when she addressed her former classmates.
Hoda attended Fort Hunt High School in Alexandra, Virginia, which has been closed down for 38 years, but many alums turned out for the big event, which featured Hoda as the keynote speaker.
“Do you know what happened when they had a reunion for the whole school? Everybody came,” Hoda said Oct. 2 on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.
She beamed when describing how the alums have gone on to do wonderful things and pivoted to mentioning how her own life took off after she turned 50, including the additions of Hope and her other daughter, Haley, 6.
“It was so fun. And at the end, I was telling a story about how I was a late bloomer in high school and a late bloomer in life and all the best things in my life happened after 50,” Hoda said.
“And I talked about how I had my girls after 50,” she said, and mentioned she only brought Hope with her because Haley stayed behind to enjoy some “grandma time.”
“I said one of the best calls I ever got in my life was when the phone rang and it was the adoption agency and I didn’t know what a birth felt like,” Hoda continued. “I’ve never given birth to a child, but when you get a phone call and you listen and I said, ‘Hello,’ and the woman on the other end at the adoption agency said, ‘She’s here.’ And I thought, ‘She’s here.’
“And so when I was at my reunion, I said, ‘And she’s here.’ Little Hope came buzzing up on the stage, not afraid of anything, wearing my old high school cheerleading uniform. Anyway, it was a fun, fun weekend. I got to see old friends. It was so cool.”
To be at the event with Hope was something Hoda will always remember.
“It was one of those kind of ‘pinch-me,’ amazing moments,” she said.
“It was beautiful, and I want to say thank you to all the Fort Hunt Federals. Let’s go!” she added.