Hi again. I’m back.

Nine months ago, I didn’t envision a return to Evergreen Newspapers and Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc. Working in Boulder had given me a more regular work schedule, not as far of a drive from my Arvada home and a sense of being back in the operations of a daily newspaper. It also, however, reminded me of what I was missing.

I was missing time with my wife and children due to our split schedules. That happens when they’re working or at school during the day and I’m working a night shift.

I was missing out on the players and coaches that I had covered for the previous 5 ½ years.

I was missing out on what I truly love about my chosen profession ­­— being out in the community and making connections with people far and near.

So when the opportunity came to return, while a difficult decision in some ways, in the long run I know it wasn’t all that trying at all.

In 2008, when my family moved out to Colorado, I made a conscious decision to return to the reporting side of journalism after spending the 10 previous years at newspapers in the Carolinas working inside the office. There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of good, hard-working journalists do that, and I’m thankful they do because more likely than not they’re finding all the errors that crept into my work. But I know me and I know that my desires are to be out and about interacting with the public.

Now I’m sure my car won’t take too kindly to this decision or my body clock, especially when I was out covering the Oh My Gawd rodeo in Dumont on Friday night only to turn around a few short hours later to head up to Georgetown for the Slacker half marathon. But that’s a rare double and one in my first week back that I didn’t mind making.

My gas tank surely will remind me that I’m back, but that’s not completely a negative. It’s a good thing I love to drive, at least most of the time. We’ll revisit that when the snow hits.

But more than that, it will be a thrill, an honor and a pleasure to be back walking the sidelines at Jefferson County Stadium on a Friday night or sitting in the stands at Clear Creek High School for a volleyball match. It’s been missed.

Contact Michael Hicks at sports@evergreenco.com or 303-350-1047.