Perhaps by "moving on too extremely" you mean "growing up"? If you're an adult, moving around probably isn't as big a deal, but as a kid, you tend to associate meaningful periods of your life with your surroundings. (Lord knows I have.) Now that you and the people you remember are grown up... It would've been different even if you'd stayed in the same town with them, but I think the difference you noticed (the drabness) was amplified by physical distance.