As most of you know from last week’s column it has been a pretty tough couple of weeks for my family.

But as we attempt to try to return to some sort of normalcy in our lives, which I am not sure will ever happen, it was great to walk back into the office of Leader Publications Monday morning and sit down at my desk to do some work.

It is the first step in the healing process for myself. I cannot tell you how good it feels to be back out and about after pretty much staying inside for the past two weeks.

Even the weather decided to try and help give me a lift with temperatures finally getting into the 70s.

I would like to take this time to thank all of my co-workers who spent the past two weeks filling in for me, as well as the correspondents who have helped picked up the slack with stories and photos.

There are not enough words to express my gratitude for their efforts.

I hope that things will return to normal pretty quickly as far are covering sports goes and I hope everyone understands why some of the games were missed over the previous couple of weeks.

I will do my best to try and make up for those missed events as we head into May and the final month of the regular season.

I would also like to thank everyone for the condolences and gifts. I want to thank those who came to the viewing and to the funeral. It meant a lot to my daughter Kirsten and myself.

They say spring brings new hope.

My hope is that the weather remains nice for the remainder of the spring sports season and that our local teams continue to enjoy the success they have already had through a very rocky April.

I cannot wait to get out and about to see everyone and watch some high school sports.

I am hoping to use these upcoming days as a way to take away a bit of the pain I feel for the loss of Carol, at least for a few hours.

And while I probably have heard “I am so sorry” more than enough times, please feel free to come up and offer your condolences if you want to.

It is the home stretch of the 2017-18 high school sports year.

Let it bring plenty of victories for our local teams as they prepare for the state tournament to get under way.

I know I am looking forward to it.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com.