My Great-Aunt died.

Yup. She did. It was cancer, and it happened in a little over a week. This weekend at the Cottage was weird; she was in the hospital, and my grandparents couldn't make it over from St. Claire because my grandma's sick. It was just my regular aunts and uncles, with less children because two of them were at Rothbury working, but it was quiet and eerie, with a substantial amount of alcohol consumed. It's weird, how much more appreciative you become after you lose someone you weren't even really close to. This weekend, there were a lot more little touches--a hand on a shoulder, a random hug, bumping shoulders. It was like we were all trying to nonverbally communicate the same thing: I'm here, you're here, and I love ya.