i have fond memories of when my grandmother would take us into her pantry at the end of our visits and spoil us with 'candy bags,' brown paper bags filled with all sorts of goodies we picked from the pantry. ...not all my memories are fond, however. i also remember her as immature and selfish. i remember asking her to let me keep a rock i found in her rock garden, and she responded, 'i suppose i'll give it to you, even though i don't really want to'; even as a young child i realized that this just isn't a tone grandmothers are supposed to use with their grandchildren. ...my father left home when he was sixteen because she was controlling. the hardest part of this all is watching him go through it ...because she's dying, i found out today, and he doesn't know whether to be sad or relieved. ...my grandmother is a collector. she's collected everything from christmas items (which decorate her living room year-round) to sunflowers to green bottles and beads displayed in her kitchen window. i took this photo on mother's day when i last visited her.