A Working Synopsis

As I’ve shared the narrative for “I Wanted to Ask My Dad”, people ask me, “were there really baby ducklings in a whirlpool and was it your husband who saved them?” The answer to both of those questions is “yes”. Which is why I realized, when I am ready to write a synopsis for my book, I needed to be sure to include that part in the summary. I also realized I needed to include, in both the narration and the synopsis, I had been gifted with a love for creating art, but, as the story reveals, it took God’s hand to bring me back to that gift.

So, here is my first draft for a “dust jacket synopsis”:

In April 2018, Clarence “Pete” Spitz, a lifelong farmer and father of seven, suffered a massive stroke.  Preparing for his funeral arrangements, a family member asked his daughter, Kathleen, to create a sketch of Jesus as the Good Shepherd for Pete’s memorial card.  Describing herself as mildly agnostic and marginally artistic, Kathleen balked at the suggestion.  

Trying to justify why she couldn’t draw the requested portrait, Kathleen realized she never asked her father about his spiritual beliefs.  Later that day, Kathleen and her husband, Jonathan, took a walk along a river.  Just below a dam, where the water was most turbulent, they saw a mother duck, frantically pacing a ledge.  All her newly hatched ducklings were caught in a whirlpool; they were too tiny to escape, and she was helpless to save them.  As Jonathan scrambled down the bank and began to help the family of ducks, God gently placed in Kathleen’s heart Who His Son is as well as the inspiration to pick up her pencils to draw. That night, Kathleen sketched a portrait of the Good Shepherd for her Dad’s funeral card.  That was also the door through which she went back to her childhood love of creating art.

As Kathleen shared her testimony, she realized everyone has questions they wish they could have or might someday ask their own father.  “I Wanted to Ask My Dad” is Kathleen’s story, but it also touches a space God created in each of our hearts: a place of longing for a perfect Father, the One Who in return longs for a relationship with us in which He can love and guide us. And answer every question we bring to Him.