Kimberlee Conway Ireton

Last month at the Northwest Christian Writers Association, I met Jeanne Damoff, author of Parting the Waters: Finding Beauty in Brokenness. She was speaking about using the rules and breaking the rules to craft beautiful prose. I was so entranced by her delightful soft Texas drawl and her passionate words about beautiful writing that I bought her book – and I’m so glad I did.

When Jeanne’s oldest son nearly drowns at an end-of-the-school-year party, his life is held by a thread. Doctors say things like “chronic vegetative state.” But Jeanne and her husband, George, refuse to believe it. This lovely memoir recounts the days, weeks, and months after the accident and tells the beautiful and heart-breaking story of Jacob’s slow and miraculous awakening. It’s an honest, painful, hopeful story of loss, community, and healing.

While I disagree with some of Jeanne’s theology, I fell in love with her and her family as I read this book. I was awed by her faith and her vision, her ability to see God’s mercy and presence in the midst of horrible, tragic circumstances, and her willingness to let this tragedy draw her closer to God, trusting in His grace and guidance, His love and presence and care.

Jeanne’s graciousness extends to strangers: she agreed to answer a bunch of my impertinent questions and let me post them here on my blog. So, friends, it is with great pleasure that I introduce you to Jeanne Damoff.

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KCI: When did you start thinking about writing this memoir? How long till you actually started working on it? What (if anything) was the catalyst?

JD: About four years after our son Jacob’s near-drowning accident I began to sense that the Lord wanted me to write our story. We’d seen God work in so many amazing and beautiful ways in and through Jacob’s life, and I knew many hurting Christians needed to believe there was purpose in their suffering.

However, I wasn’t in any hurry to relive my own heartbreak, so for three years I gave God excuses why I couldn’t write it. My biggest one was lack of time. In 2002, let’s just say God cleared my schedule. I wasn’t exactly fired from my teaching job, but the position was eliminated. The school offered me a different position, but I knew what I was supposed to do. I went home and started working on the book.

KCI: Given the sudden nature of the accident and the constant attention Jacob required afterward, not to mention your own grief, shock, and pain, how did you remember and then reconstruct for the book the events and emotions of those days, weeks, and months after the accident?

JD: I had quite a bit of documentation: medical records, newspaper articles, correspondence, and lots of people I could interview. I also believe God preserved my memories. I tend to have a “videographic” memory anyway. I can replay events and conversations in my mind, complete with what people were wearing, the time of day, how hot or cold it was, etc. I don’t know if that’s a common writer trait–to observe and record your own moments–but I often do it. And apparently shock and grief intensify my memory. I had no trouble replaying those scenes in my mind. As you can imagine, this can be as much a curse as a blessing, but it certainly helps write a book.

KCI: One of the refrains of the book is “new mercies,” and you show vividly how God provides and cares for us in the midst of our troubles. Since writing is often a process of discovery, I was curious if you saw any new mercies as you looked back on this time that you hadn’t seen before?

JD: Oh my goodness, I couldn’t begin to count how many mercies I discovered by looking back! We knew God was with us in the midst of our ordeal, but we’d also entered brand new territory and had no idea how to navigate our way. We prayed for wisdom, and then we had to move forward trusting God would give it. I’m sure we all sometimes wish God would shine a spotlight on the path He has chosen, especially when faced with crucial choices. Looking back it is so much easier to trace His clear hand of guidance every step of the way.

KCI: What new mercies did you receive as you wrote the book?

JD: I not only had the opportunity to look back and see how God had worked all things together for good and created stunning beauty from our brokenness, I also followed up with various people who’d played a key role in Jacob’s recovery and learned how God had continued to work through the ripples He’d set in motion in their lives. If I hadn’t been writing a book, I probably never would have contacted those people and asked them to share their stories with me. I wept over the letters and e-mails I received in response. (Those testimonies appear in Appendix A of the book.)

KCI: Throughout the book, you use the image of water to interpret your experience. Jacob’s near drowning provides part of the reason for this image, but I wondered if there were other reasons you chose it, or if there were other images you considered using as an overarching interpretive lens?

JD: I love how God takes an event–the loss of one cherished stone–and sets ripples in motion that spread in all directions, affecting everything in their path. They may appear to diminish over time, but they continue long after they’re out of sight. Indeed, they don’t stop until they reach the shore. That picture captured my imagination before I started writing, so I never considered a different metaphor.

KCI: What was the hardest part of your story to write? Why?

JD: Reliving the agony of those first weeks and months was by far the hardest part, but it was also very cathartic. I wept my way through the entire first draft of the book. It was a cleansing release. Another hard part was remembering and confessing how selfish and self-pitying I was, but I wanted to be honest about that. God understands our human nature and is patient when we buck against suffering. He allows us to rant. I think some Christians need permission to do that.

KCI: What was the most fun or rewarding part?

JD: Besides reading the testimonies, the most fun and rewarding part has been receiving feedback from readers. My one prayer for this book is that God will place it in the hands of people who need to read it, and they will meet Him on the pages. I can’t tell you how humbled and delighted I am when I hear stories that assure me He’s answering that prayer. I also love all the opportunities to connect with people through speaking engagements and book signings. So much of our story is about community. Now that the book is out there, the community is growing. I love it!

KCI: And most important, of course: in the movie version of your life, who plays you? Why? (And who plays George?)

JD: Ha! This is a fun question. Let’s see. If we go by looks, I’d have to say Kristin Scott Thomas. Not only do people (including strangers) frequently tell me I look like her, I’ve even been mistaken for her in places like airports and fancy, big-city restaurants. However, if personality is more important, I’d probably pick Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She can act goofy enough to make a believable me.

People say my George looks a bit like Harrison Ford. He also has the Indiana Jones-ish professor/outdoorsman thing going on. So, yeah. I’ll go with Ford.

Okay, it’s settled. Now, when is this movie coming out?

Tags: author interview