On Golden Pond

Yesterday I was with an older couple and something the man said made me think of the movie "On Golden Pond." Then today my niece wrote a blog on the same subject.

I found the movie to be profound the first time I saw it. I've seen it several times since. Last year we sat on the front row in the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota to see the play, staring Tom Bosley and Michael Learned.

My niece, in her blog, zeroed in on the relationship between the old man and woman - played in the movie by Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn.

My take on "On Golden Pond" is that it's all about the father/daughter relationship. It's about a daughter, played in the movie by Jane Fonda, fast approaching middle age and still trying to jump through hoops to get her dad to notice her.

I know the feeling.

Jane Fonda knows the feeling. She's said many times that her real relationship with Henry was much like the one in the movie.

Years ago I wrote a little booklet for Father's Day called, "Thanks, Dad." It's full of loving vignettes from various people, young and old, male and female, telling sweet stories - large and small - about their dads.

I thought that getting these interviews would be a slam dunk. I was wrong. Turns out that most people, especially of my generation, especially women, have serious issues with dad.



***