'You are old, Father William', the young man said, 'And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head -- Do you think, at your age, it is right?' Lewis Carroll (1865) My grandmother was the original matriarch. When she barked "frog," the only acceptable response was "how high?" She was hard to deal with in her last days, surprising no one. Not being the brightest penny in the family bag, I reacted emotionally to her complaints, judgments, and demands. Rather than l.