visiting hours

My mum was doing pretty well after her operation, but she had some spinal fluid leakage and had to stay in a bit longer. She came home last night because it looked like the leak had healed, but then it started leaking again, and my dad phoned to tell me, and he sounded really worried.

I’m going out to Seattle tomorrow to be with them, and I think I’m going to try to make a mini comic about the whole thing. But I’m not sure if it will be the kind of comic I can show people, or just something to help me sort out my own head. My mother is an amazing person, but of course, like in any family, the relationships are all very complicated. I’m never quite sure how I’m feeling or supposed to be feeling, and sometimes the right things just don’t get said.
I’m going to start making the comic on the airplane, but I can’t decide if I should draw my family as people, or make everyone like the comic about the moles, where I can keep a little distance by making people into animals. I can so understand why Spiegelman did that in Maus; sometimes it’s just easier to say with animal characters. And the blobby moles are much easier and faster to draw than people, so I wouldn’t have to waste time fussing over my life drawing. But I wonder if I would be able to be as honest about things that way. I’m not sure.