broken bones and missed relationships

Tony and Joan, my uncle and aunt from Vermont, my mom's brother and his wife, have participated in two of the last three Ragbrais with my parents, one of which I also participated in. They were planning to come this year, and there was still potential for them to bring my cousin Katy along. Unfortunately, last weekend, my uncle broke a bone in his foot fly-fishing. He has to wear a boot for six weeks. Bike shoes won't suffice. Now they can't come.

1. It sucks for them and I feel really bad because they were excited about it.
2. I am sad because I was excited about seeing them, and possibly seeing Katy. Our families used to spend a week or two together each year and we were really close. Now our lives are all so busy and scattered that we are lucky to see each other once every two years. I haven't seen my cousin Emily since the summer of 2007 and I haven't seen the rest of them since the summer of 2008. Five years ago, I never would have believed I could go two years or more without seeing them. Every Christmas, I try to petition for us to celebrate together, my mom usually proposes it but for some reason or another it never works. I know this is life. I feel like it is all too apparent to me recently how life changes and it becomes harder and harder to keep up with the people that I once saw so often. I can accept it but I can't deny that it makes me sad. Really sad. I know that some people have and will come and go from my life and that is ok, but it is really hard when there is so much distance from the people I expect to be in my life forever. It's all part of growing up, which I am obviously not entirely ready for.

I hope Tony's foot heals soon and that one of these days we can all rendez-vous on Ragbrai. Maybe we can even drag Nathan, with his hipster fixie, along.