I had stopped gaming for about 5 years to focus on my career and starting a family. I'm now turning 40 this year and have been dabbling with games again but nothing really stuck until I started the Trails in the Sky trilogy. I ended up playing it a few hours every other night. Something about it was so refreshing that I'm now about to wrap up the 3rd game.
Like others have mentioned, perhaps your mood or perspective changes as you get older and it's just about finding the right game to play.
Nearly an empty nester, I got back into it with diablo and am surprised it's not affected my marriage. She'll just sit next to me and do her thing on phone/tablet.