The Open Heart Club

In this grief journal, Valenzuela uses her own candid and vulnerable excerpts from her personal journey of grief. Having suffered the loss of her own child, Valenzuela found healing and truth through the process of writing. Darkness, fears and tragedy are shared with cutting honesty, as Valenzuela takes the reader through the chasm of grief. Valenzuela's need to connect with her son after death was what took her from a surreal and sorrowful state of suspended animation through a metamorphosis that led into a whole new perspective on loss and life. The reader is tenderly guided and prompted to begin their own personal story of loss. The attached pages allow for the reader to express openly their feelings, memories, thoughts and hopes. The message of healing is provided by Valenzuela throughout the book with the hope that the reader will find acceptance of their loss and the ability to both mourn their loved one and live their own life to the fullest once more.