Meh. It is what it is, I suppose. I'm the youngest of three. I have no sister, just older brothers. So, I was the last one at home. Not only that, but my dad took a promotion and moved our family midway through my sophomore year in high school, so middle brother was allowed to stay with relatives the last 3 months of his senior year of high school, and I moved with our parents alone. From that point on, I was an only child, except when the boys came home from college to visit a weekend here or there.
We pretty much lost any closeness around that time. They were at different stages of their lives and that trend just continued. Eldest got married, had kids, and lived 5 hours away during all of it. I was still single, dating and partying, going to college or working. Middle brother dated some with one long term relationship that didn't end in marriage, but he also lived 5 hours away, and so it was difficult to develop any sort of relationship with his long term girlfriend (and also with my SIL, wife of the eldest brother).
Parents, by that point, had moved in that same direction and left me behind (so to speak). They were now 6.5 hours away.
It's very difficult to bond with people in such drastically different stages of their lives, when you cannot spend copious amounts of time with them. Especially in the age when long distance calls still cost an arm and a leg, and there was no such thing as an internet.
Once that trend took hold, well... that's pretty much remained the status quo.
Oh, we get along fine, and enjoy each other's company when we are all together at our parents' for a weekend or whatever. It just doesn't happen that often. *Maybe* once per year.
Middle brother eventually got married (to the sweetest woman on the planet), but they have not been able to have children. My kids and eldest brother's kids enjoyed each other's company when they were younger (like most kids who will play with whomever is available and long lasting/long term history is not required to enjoy time outside), but now they are also worlds apart in their life stages.
We have one child each that overlap in age, and they are opposite sexes. Without bonding time (copious amounts of it) at the right ages (I'm suggesting between 10-14) it's just awkward now.
And now brother's family has moved down toward our area... about 30 minutes away. But between his family's schedule, and our family's schedule, we rarely have opportunity to get together. They have friends from their old hometown that come visit regularly, and we have friends locally that we socialize with regularly. But you probably wouldn't ever put the two friends at the same table. Just different people.
I've very much found that the older I get, the more difficult it is to bond and make lasting deep connections with other people. Especially when it requires that both parties (husband and wife of each couple) share that same type of bond if socializing regularly is going to work.
So, yay! They live closer. But we don't see each other any more frequently than before. And in fact, b/c it's closer, it just makes it that much more awkward.
Are there major issues? No. Have there ever been? No. Love them? Yes. Like them? Yes. Enjoy their company? Yes.
But... it just is what it is.
We are much closer with husband's family, who mostly live 5 hours away. They are much more willing to make an effort to visit, put their personal plans on hold to share a meal when we've driven 5 hours to stop in, etc... than my family ever has done. They also regularly get together AS A FAMILY. Aunt/Uncle, Brother/SIL, half sister/BIL, nieces, great nieces, cousins, whatever... they bring friends with them even.. We meet for dinner and then wall the mall or browse the bookstore.. whatever it takes to meet in a semi-central location (b/c they all live 30-50 minutes span away from each other).
My family.. meh.. if niece had a boyfriend, we just never saw them during a visit. They kept their own plans and it was never a priority to spend time with us. Any local activity they were involved with was never delayed or skipped to visit with us. Nothing was ever pushed back or rescheduled to make way for a visit if we were in town.
And that's fine. Again, it is what it is.
So, does it bother me? Not as much as you might think. Sometimes maybe. But I think it bothers my mother far more. She sees herself as a grand-matriarch, and there isn't much to be grand-matriarch over! Husband's family is more clannish, lol. And they have all sorts of dysfunction. They embrace it almost, and I suppose, in a weird way, it makes it ok to be yourself and easy to fit in. Love them. They drive me nuts sometimes, but I do love them! And I feel very close to many of them. Sadly, I feel closer to my SILs on that side than I do to my brother's wives.