On Golden Pond was an award winning film from 1981 starring Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn and Jane Fonda. Norman, a retired professor, and his wife Ethel, summered on Golden Pond, a lake in New Hampshire. In this scene, Ethel asks Norman to pick some strawberries. But Norman gets lost and comes home empty handed. Ethel realizes that he's having cognitive problems and Norman, is embarrassed, angry and disappointed in himself. Ethel reassures him that he's still the same old crabby Norman and that she loves him.
You can use this story to talk about Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn or the film. The first part of the story can help recall personal stories about a summer retreat, summer vacation, a cabin on a lake or berry picking. But it can be a good story to initiate conversations about cognitive problems and what it feels like. Norman, for example, is embarrassed, angry and disappointed in himself. His wife Ethel deals with loss but also recognizes her "knight in shining armor."
This might make some people who are experiencing cognitive problems uncomfortable, in which case you might want to avoid the story altogether. However, there's a lot of positive material to discuss here. Ethel reassures and comforts Norman beautifully. She tells him that he's still the same old "poop" even though he is forgetting things and experiencing some loss.
Norman also redeems himself. Not only does he recognize what's happening to him and why he's angry, but he's willing to talk about it and even joke about it. He asks Ethel at the end how such a beautiful woman would be with a crabby old man as himself?
What do you think about how both Ethel and Norman use humor and drama to cope with the situation and communicate their love for one another?
