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COCKTAILS, ANYONE? "There are enough channels around where people can get a heavy dose of breaking and bad news," says Kotb. "Our show is a place to forget your

troubles." Bring Your Mother to Work at "Today": Hoda Kotb, and her mom Sami Kotb, Joan Epstein, and her daughter Kathie Lee Gifford, gather on set in March. Peter

Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images "We don't take ourselves seriously," adds Gifford. "If we're having fun, our audience has fun. Fun is contagious." Case

in point: Gifford and Kotb are poolside. It's noon now, and, as happens so often on their show, the pinot grigio is flowing. Gifford points at the bottle and shrugs: "It was

Jesus' first miracle." She and Kotb didn't start out drinking on the air, but a few years back, when comedian Chelsea Handler appeared to promote her book _Are You There,

Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea,_ the hostesses served her an array of cocktails. A week later actress Brooke Shields came as a guest and asked for a beverage. "Everybody started wanting

their cocktails, and we couldn't be rude," Gifford says. So now the hostesses launch almost every live show, at 10 a.m., with wineglasses in hand. The wine, says Kotb, "is a

prop as much as anything, but it invites you to the party." Earlier this year tabloid rumors swirled that the party was getting tense — that there was friction between Gifford and Kotb,

and that Kotb was looking around for a new gig. While the two pals admit that they sometimes can get on each other's nerves, they insist that, unlike the stereotypes of cat-fighting

professional women, their relationship is remarkably noncompetitive and trusting. For instance, at the pool, perhaps emboldened by the fruit of the vine, Gifford and Kotb agree to put on

swimsuits and take a dip for the photographer. Kotb squeals when the water hits her waistline, and Gifford jokes, "Does anyone mind if I pee?" While nothing seems off-limits for

their comedic material, Gifford and Kotb, who recently broke up with a long-term boyfriend, agree that there is a line neither will cross. "We know the vulnerable points," Gifford

says. "You don't go for the cheap laugh." REALITY CHECKS Both women say they're optimists, but they acknowledge that life's troubles can put a sunny disposition to

the test. "You can be an optimist, and then the world falls out from under you," says Kotb, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent a mastectomy. "At that

point you either look for potholes everywhere, or you realize your life has margins, and you stop wasting time." Without Kathie Lee, "My life would be half as full," says

Hoda. "If I hadn't made room for Hoda, I would have missed out on one of the great blessings of my life," says Kathie Lee. Justin Stephens Gifford has had her share of

hardships too, including a widely publicized philandering episode on the part of her husband in 1997. She admits to suffering from depression occasionally and says that her deep Christian

faith has helped her to stay focused on the positive. In addition, the way her younger sister dealt with near death and a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, after the birth of her only child,

inspired her. "I was furious with God that my beautiful sister, at age 23, would have a colostomy bag hanging off her body for the rest of her life," Gifford explains. "But

she said, 'Don't curse God for this bag. It means I get to live the rest of my life, I get to see my daughter grow up.' I was looking at the wrong thing." What inspires

Gifford these days is a comment that the late actor Paul Newman once made to her at a fundraiser for the playhouse in Westport, Conn. "I said, 'Paul, I haven't seen you in so

long. How are you?' " Gifford remembers. Newman answered: "I'm 80 years old. I have a pulse." It has become her mantra. "If you have a pulse, you have a

purpose," Gifford says. "Every morning, before I get out of bed now, I take my pulse. If I have one, that means that God's not finished with me yet. I still have work to do on

this planet." The afternoon is winding down, and Gifford and Kotb are enjoying a late lunch of chicken salad, watermelon and, of course, pinot grigio. They talk about the value of

staying open to new experiences. "I thought my heart didn't have any more room for more people," Gifford says. "I felt I didn't have enough time for the friends I

already had. But if I hadn't made room for Hoda, I would have missed out on one of the great blessings of my life." "By the time you reach my age, you generally know

what's in you," says Kotb. "But I didn't know. It takes the right person to bring it out. I say thank you to Kathie Lee all the time. Before her, I'd still be doing

what I was doing and not know what I was missing. My life would be half as full." Gifford feels equally enriched by the partnership. "It's like an old man who's taken a

young lover," she quips. "He's got a jaunty little step." _Meg Grant is the West Coast Editor for _AARP The Magazine. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HODA KOTB LONG-AGO MEMORY:

Sledding. Me, my brother and sister, soaring down the hill and screaming wildly. I remember so clearly that rush. You're scared, but you're not; you're with your brother and

sister; and there's not one thing on your mind except for, "We're right here, right now."