Came here to post a similar story. Played the piano for many years, hated practising and performing at recitals, eventually stopped complaining it was too much effort. Now I wish I had a solid foundation to build on as I've stared playing again. All that music theory and practising of scales would be really useful now.
Having said that, it's never too late to pick it up again!
A decade later and I wish I could play an instrument, still.