My parents are no longer alive. When i was younger I had several jobs that
took me thousands of miles away and then there were periods where they
lived just down the street. When my father died we lived very close by and
in fact planned to go out for my Birthday when news came to me at work that he had died. When my mother died we lived very close and I was seeing her quite often since he suffered from dementia and we knew her days were numbered.

Now the role is reversed and my son has lived thousands of mile away for
a about 20 years. There was a short period while I lived in the Netherlands
he was stationed in Germany so I saw him all the time. We had 2 Christmas
over there and I was able to rent places in Austrian Alps so we could have Christmas together.

My son just a year ago moved to Alabama from Arizona, and now is my next
door neighbor.