TBT: Common threads

If you can, watch “I’ll Be Me,” the 2014 documentary about singer Glen Campbell’s farewell tour just as he is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Strength is what you’ll need to watch it. I just watched again as I like to think I am stronger this time around. Once again the similarities left me breathless.

Yes, Glen Campbell and his family had the financial resources to “afford” the disease, which will pick your wallet clean before all is said and done. But as you watch his gradual then swift decline, you’ll realize money and fame really don’t matter. In the end—August 8, 2017—a woman lost her husband, children lost their father, kin and friends lost their loved one, and fans throughout the world lost one amazing performer.

Some moments in the film are downright eerie.

You will see Kim Campbell describing how her husband would get confused when he’d go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Martin, too, would get confused and similar to Glen Campbell he peed in a corner of the bathroom, in a bathroom wastebasket, in the sink and tub, and at his first nursing home he wandered into a female resident’s room and peed in her trash sometime after midnight.

You will see Glen Campbell cracking jokes and avoiding answers during assessments with his physician. Martin, too.

It’s for you to decide which stage in your Alzheimer’s journey is the best time to watch “I’ll be Me.”  Or if you will watch it at all.

I could only watch it 14 months after my husband died and then nearly three years later. Both times it was like watching a retrospective of our life. So many moments when I said, “Oh, yeah. I remember that!” and “I know where that’s headed.” You’ll wonder when the other shoe is going to drop. It drops and keeps dropping.

You’ll wonder why they continued the farewell tour. Several times during the film I moaned, “Oh, stop this madness.” Then they explained why they didn’t stop sooner and I was satisfied with the answer.

You’ll wonder where the movie title came from. That’s explained in the first minutes and will break your heart for those of us who have been through it or fear when that day comes.

And just when you think your heart can’t break anymore, listen to the guest stars who share what Glen Campbell means to them. Then listen closely when they come back towards the end of the film and share what Glen Campbell means to them.

Even if you lead an Alzheimer’s-free life, I still recommend the movie because as it shows—and we all know—an Alzheimer’s-free life does not exist. We are all affected.