<p>Just a few days before Christmas 2009, Valerie Staggs received a&nbsp;call that would change her life forever. Her husband, Ken Staggs,&nbsp;had been found unconscious at the bottom of their pool. Four days&nbsp;later he would be declared dead leaving her a widow at 42 and her&nbsp;son, Ryan, fatherless at the age of seven.&nbsp;</p><p>This Side of Heaven chronicles the lives of Valerie and Ryan as&nbsp;they struggle to survive the aftermath of Ken&rsquo;s death in a world that&nbsp;neither they nor anyone around them really knows how to navigate.<br />
As they search for help from friends, family, school, church, grief&nbsp;groups, therapists and strangers, Valerie gives us a raw look into&nbsp;the unique experience of loss from the perspective of both woman&nbsp;and child and shares the fallacies that we all hold of the grieving&nbsp;process. From the initial shock of sudden death and the harsh&nbsp;realities of a grieving child, to the sticky nuances of being a&nbsp;widowed woman, to the surprisingly humorous side of death, 'This Side of Heaven' chronicles exactly how life goes on after loss.</p>