The Father, a recent film starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, has gained critical acclaim for its harrowing and often brutal depiction of what it is like to live with dementia.
I urge you to watch this film. It will give you some understanding of why it is important to have discussions with your family, with your parents and with your children in relation to what you want. So that they can understand your wishes. So that they can understand your hopes. So that they can understand your fears.
In The Father, Anthony Hopkins portrays a man suffering from dementia. As good children and parents, we all need to speak to our families and to work out what should be done in situations like this.
As Greg Martin says:
I so want to see this film. My father got Alzheimer’s disease at a young age, and my mother got it in her 80s. I saw what it did and I still weep for the fear, the claustrophobia, the moments of clarity and joy, the fog of unknowing and loss.
And I love these words from Hopkins:
“I can’t take credit for anything. I showed up on time. I made many, many mistakes. I’m an old sinner, like everyone else is. And yet I’m here! And I look back and I think how the hell did that happen?” He beams. “And it’s a wonderful freedom, because when I think of it, I think yeah, there’s more to life than I can even begin to comprehend. Am I talking about God? I don’t know. I’m talking about the divine process of being alive. It’s such an experience. Just to be here this morning! So that’s how much I know. I know nothing.
“I know nothing except the divine presence of being alive.”
Everybody needs a Will because everybody dies. A Will takes care of your assets after you die, and indicates what is important to you and how you want your assets divided.
A Power of Attorney and an Appointment of Guardian take care of your financial matters and your lifestyle choices should you lose mental capacity.
For a Will, Power of Attorney and Appointment of Guardian, contact Martin Bullock Lawyers on 9687 9322.