I understand - It's an odd phenomenon that sometimes seems to happen for no specific reason and/ or progresses so slowly one doesn't take notice until one feels the distance, as if on the outside looking in -
Families go through phases, I think - Families that I knew at one time to be close over the years drifted apart - As an observer, I'd consider myself on the outside of families other than my own ..
Toss a pebble into water, it creates rings that increasingly drift further from the center - People do the same - My grandparents were the center, then my parents the next ring, then me and my siblings - By the time our kids were big, the distance between us had already increased by leaps and bounds - Quite a departure from being one on top of another, as a growing family, in my grandparents tiny flat ..