Adios, Maria!

Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on Sesame Street for 44 years (!) has announced her retirement:

Manzano joined the show in 1971, and was promoted to series regular in 1974. During her tenure on the show, Manzano was nominated twice for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series, but lost both times. As a Sesame Street scriptwriter, however, she had better luck, winning a total of 15 Emmy Awards. She and TV husband Luis also fixed countless toasters while co-running the bustling Fix-It Shop.

Manzano's post-TV life already seems busy: She's out promoting her forthcoming memoir, Becoming Maria: Love And Chaos in the South Bronx, as well as assuring distraught Twitter users that everything will be okay on Sesame Street after her departure.

Aww lol.

[Content Note: Videos autoplay at links] I was born the same year Maria was promoted to series regular, and I don't remember a day when I didn't watch Sesame Street during my early childhood. I was utterly taken with all the muppets—and all the humans, too. I was Cookie Monster for Halloween one year, and I lived for our visits to Sesame Place, and I have pictures of me with Gordon (Roscoe Orman) when I was about three and he did a local appearance, and I can still sing so many of the Sesame Street songs from memory: "Ladybugs' Picnic," "Me and My Llama," "Eleven Twelve," and of course Maria's "Spanish Counting Song."

I remember when Maria and Luis got married, and, even though I was far too old for Sesame Street anymore by that time, somehow I saw it.

Sesame Street was a huge part of my childhood, like millions and millions of other kids, and I am so grateful to Sonia Manzano for bringing Maria to life and being a part of ours.