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COMMENTARY: The Vertical Rainbow: How my son's spirit taught me to see the afterlife — and our planet — in a new light

The Halifax-Dartmouth skyline has changed over the years, but the harbour remains the same — a restless, silver expanse that holds memories like tide pools hold secrets. My wife and I raised our children in Dartmouth, not far from the refinery that dominated the eastern shore. On clear days, you could see the stacks from our front porch. Our son Kevin, used to point at them and ask what they were doing to the air. Even then, the questions were forming. Even then, he was searching for ways to heal the world.

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I write this tribute for two reasons. This July marks the 10th anniversary of Kevin’s passing — a decade without his laugh, without his warmth, without the future we all imagined for him. And I write this as a testament to the nearly 50 commentaries I have written since 2022, each one a labour of love, each one for Kevin, each one a conversation I wished we could have had.

A decade ago, on a July morning, Kevin drove to the Wolfville area and climbed onto his bicycle for a ride through the Annapolis Valley. He was 30 years old, an environmental engineer whose career had taken him across the country. His first full-time job, after two successful cooperative work terms, was at the Dartmouth refinery — the very one he had grown up watching from our house. When the refinery closed, he transferred to Imperial Oil’s Calgary head office. Later, he moved to their oil sands operation in northern Alberta, trying to push for better practices from the inside. He believed you don’t run from hard problems — you roll up your sleeves and get to work.

But that day, he was home. He was engaged to........

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