“I’m sure it was really hard on the Joneses when I got married, but they welcomed Donovan with open arms,” she said. When they married in August 2012, her father, an LDS bishop, performed the ceremony, and John’s father walked her down the aisle. They decided to marry, and Donovan called both Emily’s father and John’s father to ask their permission. I think my capacity to love has increased.” A new beginning and healed family I feel like I can love John more, and better, because of my relationship with Donovan. Now, more than ever, I realize that it’s really the opposite is true. I have to stick it out,’ and then I started to realize that allowing myself to love again didn’t mean loving John any less. “Before I thought, ‘I have to be loyal to John. “I had some neat experiences where I had a change of heart,” she said. The two started talking on the phone and, when Donovan had a conference in New York City, part of a model United Nations class, she decided to go meet him. Her younger brother was in school at BYU and kept telling her he had found the perfect guy for her - his roommate, Donovan Sanchez. That was really hard, but I still wasn’t ready to date or admit that maybe I would be ready to get married some day.” “I was really surprised, but it broke my heart,” she said. After John’s death, she resolved to never remarry.īut when her son John was around 1 year old, she started to notice that he would latch on to any man who spent time with him. What she calls her greatest blessing, though, was the one she hesitated to accept. She spent time with those she loved and also started to paint, finding that expressing herself through photography and painting was like therapy. ![]() She noticed that she was happier and stronger, more certain that God had a plan for her life, the more she prayed and read her scriptures. It’s hard to be alone, it’s so hard to be lonely, and it’s hard to be a single parent, and it’s hard to be just sort of lost.” A source of light for Emily Jone-Sanchez “I felt constantly a weight of: ‘How do I take care of my family and what am I supposed to be doing with my life?’ That was by far the most depressing part. She started a photography business and went back to school part time, taking classes in graphic design, but continued to feel confused about the future and stressed about her unexpected role as sole provider for her family. She said that was the last thing she was interested in after John died. When she attended BYU, she had been studying psychology and worked hard to build up her resume and earn good grades to someday go to graduate school and become a marriage and family therapist. “I planned on helping John get through medical school, raising our family together and being a mom.” “The part that got me down was the feeling that my whole life, all my plans had been totally obliterated,” she said. She moved into her own place but continued to struggle with what to do next. It had been difficult to remain there anyway with John gone and looking toward a summer birth, so she and Lizzie moved in with her parents until John Edward Jones II was born in June. She returned with Lizzie to their family apartment at John’s school in Virginia, but because it was student-family housing and there was no longer a student living there, they had to move. That proved to be among the most difficult things she would face. He has work to do and I need to figure out what I’m going to do.” What now for Jones’ widow and family “I’d had my fair share of doubts and struggles, but after my experiences after John’s death, I knew death wasn’t the end. “I hadn’t always had an amazing testimony,” she said. She said she had several experiences that left her certain that John continued to exist, despite his death. I felt like Heavenly Father is going to take care of us and it’s going to be OK.” ![]() “I was obviously devastated and I missed John and it was rough, but I felt full of faith. “Definitely for the first few months I just felt really buoyed up, I felt OK,” she said. His remains are entombed there still.Įmily, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it was her faith that sustained her. He died after spending 27 hours in a small opening in the cave, unable to be extricated by rescuers. They were coming to announce that they were expecting their second child.īut a pre-Thanksgiving outing to the cave left John, 26, trapped. Man trapped in Utah County’s Nutty Putty cave diesĪ November trip brought Emily, her husband John, and their 13-month old daughter, Lizzie, home for a visit to Utah from Virginia, where John was attending medical school.Nutty Putty Cave accident victim’s widow: ‘I know there is life after death’.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |