“It’s never been hard to talk about John,” she said. Jones-Sanchez gives her husband a great deal of the credit for this. And while time has passed and they lead a happy life together, Emily and Donovan have also retained John’s memory. She is the mother of Lizzie (7) and John (6), as well as Emerson (2). Jones-Sanchez currently lives in Peoria, Illinois, where she and her current husband, Donovan Sanchez, moved to be closer to her parents. “We were aware that it would be really challenging to have to open back up that part of our lives and also expose our family to the public eye and criticism and the painful experiences, rehashing everything,” Jones-Sanchez said. Still, the family knew that giving the film’s director, Isaac Halasima, their blessing also meant they were subjecting themselves to a potentially difficult experience. “We weighed the pros and cons and we finally decided that if this movie could help people, if it could be a good thing, if people can learn to treasure their relationships and be reminded about how fragile life is, then maybe it’s worth it.” “And I think that would be the worst-case scenario … but best-case scenario would be that people come away from this movie remembering what they felt when they first heard about the story, remembering how much they wanted to treasure their loved ones and to put everything they had into their relationships and into making the most of this time that we have together. “We all were afraid that this movie would just be a sad story,” Jones-Sanchez said. It is the opportunity to share this perspective that motivated Jones-Sanchez and her late husband’s family, despite their initial hesitance, to allow his story to be told in a film that will open in theaters this weekend titled, “The Last Descent." “And some people even said, ‘We’ve been considering divorce and after hearing about your loss and everything you’ve been through, it’s really just put life in perspective for us and we’ve recommitted to loving each other better and to our marriage and to our family.’ And I think tragedy does often put life into perspective for us.” “I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and said, ‘Nobody knows this but we’ve been really struggling in our marriage,’” Jones-Sanchez said. Maybe it's because as people learned more about the life of John Jones and his response to a life or death situation, they wanted to be better. Perhaps that's why it's not uncommon for stories about the tragic accident to suddenly appear on the most-read list online at from time to time, even seven years later.īut maybe it's more than that. They imagine what they would’ve done and how they would’ve felt had they been placed in her position. Her new acquaintances typically tell her they remember hearing her story. The fact that her husband, John Jones, died after getting trapped in a Utah cave in 2009 is not the first thing Emily Jones-Sanchez brings up when she meets new friends.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |