Sometimes you can come home.

Until a few years ago, I was one of those people who swore they would never return to Thomasville.

I was born here and lived in a variety of places in town. My dad, who owned Dairy Co restaurant on Smith Avenue, home of the Baby Burger, loved to move, but we finally settled on Palm Drive when I was about 7 and lived there until heading off to school.

I graduated from Thomasville High in 1979, went to Valdosta State and never looked back. I was on my way to bigger and better things. Or at least I thought I was.

My career in sports journalism started in 1982 at the Valdosta Daily Times, and my dream was to one day work for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I made a number of stops along the way and ended up as the sports editor at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in 1997. I ended up staying there for about 20 years.

Then for family reasons I got the call to come home.

It has been the best thing that ever happened to me.

I worked for the Ledger-Enquirer another three years, performing my job as a copy editor remotely. As with a lot of jobs these days, as long as I had good internet service, I could do that job. 

But I missed being able to write. Lucky for me, the Times-Enterprise was looking to hire someone, and I started my new job as a reporter Monday.

But this is not my first go-around here.

One of those stops along the way to the AJC was the Times-Enterprise. I was the sports editor here in the mid-1980s. Those were fun times. I was fortunate to watch two of the best athletes to ever come from here: Charlie Ward Jr., who played at Central, and Shawn Jones, who played at Thomasville.

But I left after a couple of years for the Savannah Morning-News, still yearning for that call to join the AJC.

Somewhere along the way while waiting for that call, I figured out that bigger isn’t always better.

Over the years I had returned to Thomasville plenty of times to visit family, but I had never taken the time to explore the town.

I only knew Thomasville as a kid in the 1960s and ‘70s.

But when I returned home to live in 2017, I began to see the town as an adult and just how much it had changed and grown since my childhood.

I am fortunate that I get a second chance at the Times-Enterprise, and I look forward to reporting the news you need to make your life better.

I am home.

Kevin Price can be reached at 229-226-2400, ext. 1820