Anyone share experience growing up in Dayton, moving to major city for years, and coming back

I (35m) spent my childhood in Dayton (actual Dayton not a suburb), but my whole adult life I’ve been gone. At 18 I joined the army, then undergrad, then grad school, and have now been working past 10 years in DC. I genuinely love my life here, but it’s a really struggle/exhausting to carve out a decent life even with two moderately high incomes. Now that I have two little kids, I’m missing a slower pace of life and having family and friends nearby. I miss the festivals, the not fighting traffic, the sports games, the affordability, etc.. everything you try to do out here is a competition/ is totally overrun

Is this just the nostalgia talking, or has anyone else been away from Dayton for 10-20 year, returned, and then been happy with that decision? I’d be giving up a ton career-wise and financially to return to Dayton and my worst fear is regretting this move. FWIW, my wife is 100% team Dayton.