I've been quiet the past few days. I brought some sort of nasty stomach bug back with me, a consequence of fighting off all of my families' germs AND the invasion of deadly air-borne cat-poisons that they like to dust their houses with, and it's had me completely laid out.

Well, not completely. I've still had time to work like mad on my comics. Holy hell, when did my buffer slip down so low? Oh yeah, this weekend was supposed to be my big chance to catch up again. Oh well. I'll make it up next weekend... oh crap. There's a game in Saskatoon next weekend. Well, one way or another, the updates will keep happening.

I'm glad I went though. It was a whirlwind trip - I spent more time traveling than visiting, and was on the road by 7:00 most mornings, but I got to see a lot of family that I hadn't seen in years. My aunt (great aunt, really, but she liked it when I called her auntie) was very careful in her preparations. She didn't want a traditional funeral - either Cree or Catholic, like most funerals on the reserve. Instead, she wanted her family to sit down together and talk, and eat, and laugh. It was a wonderful idea, and even after her death, she provided for the whole family. The cabbage rolls we had were one of the last things she ever cooked - she had made and frozen several huge tubs of them back when she was still well enough to do so. I have a huge amount of respect for her dignity and for her tenderness. She did all she could to make her death easier on her family.

Her family... I had missed them all dearly. These people, my great aunts, uncles, and even more distant relations, were the ones whose homes I would visit while wandering the Qu'Appelle valley with my cousins, chasing tadpoles in Crooked Creek or climbing the hills in search of "dinosaur eggs" and cacti. Some, like my great great aunt, look exactly how I remember them. Others have changed so much it made my heart ache with the memories of other times.

I also got to spend some time with my Mom and my sister, which was nice. They've been going through a rough time lately - since my brother ran away to live with his dad, it hasn't really felt like the same family, or so my sister says. We shared a room that night, and stayed up late watching Grey's Anatomy. It was very comfortable and familiar - sort of like before I moved out on my own, when my sister was still very young. Of course, back then, my brother would have come in for cuddles as well, back before he decided that being an addict with a crack-ho girlfriend was the way to go. Stupid little shit.

Like I said before, it was nice, but it required a few days of downtime to recover from, emotionally. Maybe the stomach bug was well timed?