When i grew up i lived a 5 min walk (2 min drive) from my maternal grandparents
a 10 min drive from paternal grandparents.
Until very recently ALL my great grandparenst/ aunts / uncles / cousins (and even most great aunts / uncles, 2nd cousins) lived within 15 min drive as well.
It was / IS great... i am so close to all my family members and always have been. We all saw lots and lots of each other and my siblings / cousins (and even there cousins) are all great mates together and we all grew up together!
Im sure we will all be friends forever too
I really hope when i eventually have my own children it will be the same for them.
Now i have moved out and have my own house etc im still no more than 10 mins from most of my family (4 mins drive from my mum!)
Im sure my mum and dad will agree that living close enough to family WAS great... my grandparenst were often around to babysit when we were small... and as we grew older and more independant our 1st independant cycle rides were from our house to theirs!
They were also always on hadnt to deal with emergancies, ie look after my sister when i got runover... they had arrived at my house in 5 minutes!
My uncle recently moved to Ireland... with his wife and children aged 2 3 and 5, they are only my uncle and his family, but we only see them twice a year now(and have just learnt we wont see them this Xmas) (they are coming over for 3 weeks this friday though )... i find that hard enough.... i cant even imagine not being able to see my sister / mum / dad etc for months at a time!