Following a “small memorial” for Broadway star Nick Cordero, his wife, Amanda Kloots, opened up about the struggle with coming to terms with her “new normal.”
Cordero, 41, died July 5 after a 95-day hospital stay with a series of complications from the coronavirus, including a leg amputation, infections in his lungs and the insertion of a temporary pacemaker. Kloots kept her social media followers updated at every turn.
Kloots told the “close family and friends” in attendance Saturday that her late husband “would have wanted this to be a celebration” and invited them to share their favorite stories and sing “to his memory.”
“He would have loved it,” she wrote in an Instagram post Sunday. “It was beautiful and perfect. His spirit was definitely there.”
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Attendees listened to the song “I’m Here” from the Broadway musical “The Color Purple,” which she and Cordero once saw live and “left the theater in tears, speechless.”
On Saturday night, the song struck Kloots again — for a different reason.
“Truly, I am scared,” she wrote. “Scared of my new normal, of the pain, the loss and being strong enough to get through it. But, I know Nick is up above routing (sic) for me, believing in me and hoping for me. He wants me to LIVE this new life and he wants me to be the best version of myself for our son. I promised him in the hospital that I would try to do that.”
Ever the optimist, Kloots decided that the song would be her new motto whenever she doubts she can get through hardship.
“This is a long journey ahead and a down road I never thought I’d be on,” she concluded. “No one can tell me how to do it, I have to do it. I may do things right, I may do them wrong. There isn’t a perfect way. One day, one step at a time. I have faith that God is leading the way and that Nick is our angel.”
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