is this usual with extended family or loved ones as you age

like a long time ago when i was young in the 80s, i saw much of my extended family- aunts, uncles, cousins- regularly, they're originally from south London and my remaining family who are still alive, now live in parts of Essex and Kent as well, dotted around Kent and Essex, but back then we used to see a lot of them...my aunts/ uncles would drive down to manchester where we grew up, to see us, spend the day , they would also come down on birthdays, special occasions, parties etc.......but now, sadly there's only a few of my aunts left, my aunts from Essex, many of my uncles have passed on, and some cousins moved to Australia, one sadly died, and the others we never saw much of..

but now we hardly ever hear from my aunts, except once in a blue moon, just the other day one aunt phoned my mother and me after not hearing from her for ages, she was still doing well for her age thankfully and it was wonderful to hear from her again after so long.

is this usual with extended family who you once saw a lot of do you think? now all i have in my life is my elderly mum who lives far, two sisters who live up near my mum, who look after her......my dads off the scene now, me and my sisters were close with him growing up, but his personality changed, he turned nasty and violent towards my mum....then it came to light he was a having an affair...so my mum divorced him and that's the last we heard of him, over 30 years ago now...

Jenny1234 · 56-60, F

I never had extended family living near us except one grandmother. My moms family is on east coast and my dads is in Bermuda so I can’t speak to whether your scenario is normal or not .

But I can say that as my parents and their siblings got into their fifties, their visits home were less frequent and the phone calls with family were a little less frequent. But my mom always said to me that even though the phone calls that were coming in to us were less frequent it was important that her phone calls to them to say hello and to check up on them we’re more important.

I have one uncle and his wife left and they’re in their 80s and they don’t call my sister and I anymore, but we do still call them to see how they are and anytime one of us goes to the East Coast We always make sure we’re visiting them regularly while we’re there. They are always thrilled to hear from us and see us.