Amanda Kloots is looking back on a sweet video of her late husband, Nick Cordero, with a smile.
On Jan. 26 the actress, who lost Cordero to COVID-19 complications in 2020, shared a cute video on Instagram of the Tony-nominated Broadway star feeding their son, Elvis. The video, Kloots explained, was taken two years ago today, less than six months before Cordero died following a months-long battle with the coronavirus that began during the earliest days of the pandemic.
Of the clip, Kloots wrote, “It might be my favorite father/son moment I caught on camera. It used to make me too sad to watch, but now I watch it and smile.”
She also shared a message about embracing all that life has to offer.
“I think the most important lesson we learn in losing life is how to live life,” Kloots explained. “There’s been a lot of loss recently and it really got me thinking about what death teaches us? What lessons can we learn? Maybe it’s a stage of grief I’m passing through, I don’t know, but I’m in a phase of throwing caution to the wind! My one friend said to me, ‘You don’t have to label it!’ My other friend suggested, ‘You should feel invincible!’ I love both of those ideas, feeling invincible with no labels attached!”
She also gave advice as to how people can “live life to the fullest.”
“Don’t wait till tomorrow,” The Talk co-host wrote. “Say YES. Be a little bit wild, or a lot wild! Be bold, take chances, go on the trip, do all the things I want to try even when I don’t know what I’m doing. Smile. Take control of my life. Create the life I want to live!!! CREATE the life I want to LIVE. My good friend @steve_leder says ‘it’s the beauty of what remains’ — the lessons we learn when we know how precious life is.”
Followers in her comments section expressed their appreciation for the post, many of whom also lost loved ones. One wrote, “I’m learning in losing my husband last year that deep sorrow and sadness can coexist with joy and happiness.” Another added, “I needed to hear your message today. I’m not living my life right now and haven’t been for a long time.”
This isn’t the first time that Kloots has tried to find some light within her grief journey. Kloots previously wrote about finding a new word for the term “widow” after finding the term to be too negative.
“Did you know that the Indo-European root meaning of the word widow means ‘be empty?’ Be empty. ‘Be,’ in case you forgot, is a verb, an action word,” she explained on Instagram in August 2021. “I have to identify myself with a word that means to stay ‘empty’ — no wonder I hate saying the word! I am not a glass half empty kind of girl!”
Instead, she proposed the use of the term “renovare,” from the Latin word meaning to renew or restore.
“I’m not sure if it’s the right word, but it sure defines me more than ‘be empty,’” she wrote at the time. “So here’s to my fellow renovares who are striving everyday to renew, reinvent and refill their cup!”
Want lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Life’s newsletter.
