HALIFAX -- Welcome May and your promise of better days.

On this first weekend of the month, Canadians in several provinces have been given what seems like a gift, the opportunity to emerge from their homes as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

Few will relish the chance to visit parks and trails more than Nova Scotians.

The sight of May flowers can only help put April’s darkness behind them.

A month of so much loss and pain.

A virus that, at the time of writing this, took the lives of 29.

A gunman who stole 22 mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

Then to close the month, far from home, three young members of the Armed Forces, killed in a helicopter crash while serving the country.

The youngest of this group of victims, a teenager, the oldest in their eighties.

Tragedy came in waves, one after another, crashing upon every part of this small province.

All made worse by the inability to gather and mourn together.

Still a desire to share the collective sorrow and celebrate life overcame grief in isolation.

Instead of funerals, virtual vigils online and broadcast on television were personal and powerful.

And of course there was music.

From a chorus of bagpipers, to a single fiddler.

In our separation, Nova Scotians felt more connected than ever.

Perhaps that will be the glimmer of good that comes from a month of misery.

And as people pass each other in the park this weekend, maybe the smiles will be a bit wider, the waves a bit more meaningful, as the little things in life suddenly seem so much greater.