Can moving back to a town you've missed for five years bring happiness?

In my hometown is the only place to find crispy moist BBQ duck with secret sauce…and beef and broccoli with special sauce. Maybe I can just visit and get my cake and eat it too. I would try all the food in on town before I make a judgment, maybe your new town has some hidden gems you can discover, you might miss your new town when you go to visit.

Thank you but no special foods around here could take the place of old friends, climate, scenery and wildlife. But you’re right ; there are a few people I’d miss a lot if we moved back one being my younger daughter! That really throws a wrench into it. Actually, I almost hate this town.

It could make you happy if that is the only thing standing in the way of your happiness. If you are sad deep inside, nothing will make you truly happy, there will always be a gap, a dull pain no matter where you are. I guess you know that already, don’t you?

Move back when it is plausible.

Visit for a week or two before making a decision. No place stays the same and it may have changed, as have you and as have your old friends. Restaurants have new owner or chefs; stores go out of business; nothing stays the same.I checked out my childhood home on Emaps and it is now a parking lot.
You can’t go home again. I heard that somewhere.

Not in and of itself. Location as the only factor doesn’t matter—it has to be location and friends and job and activities. Being back in your old town with no friends can be lonelier than being somewhere else.

Thomas Wolfe wrote “You Can’t Go Home Again” – it’s true, because (as @Sunny2 said), home TODAY is not home from five years ago.

I have to agree with @Sunny2 places change. Plus we only remember the good times.

It will only work it you don’t sacrifice anything to go back, and – a great big and if you friends are still there.

It might, but you can never be sure.

I really loved my old town, not just for the people or activities, but for the town itself. It’s truly a fantastic place to live and I still miss it terribly after almost 9 years away from it. I’m nearly certain I’d be happier if I lived there, even completely putting aside the fact that it would make my life simpler in terms of seeing my kids. Add in that part, and it’s a slam dunk. I’d move back in a heartbeat if I could afford it.