Minding My Mother: One Man’s Prison

Here’s the scene: I’m sitting next to my mother, who is 88 and lives in a “retirement community.” We’re watching a television show about Bernie Madoff, the disgraced/disgraceful financier who is now serving prison time for bilking investors out of millions of dollars. One of his fellow inmates says he thinks that life in the prison must be similar to living in an “old age home.” It’s one of the nicer joints, apparently, with holiday cookouts, flat screen tvs, and beautiful landscaping. Still, though, there are structured mealtimes, mandated check ins, and limited societal interactions that one associates with being locked up. This comparison is not lost on my precious mother, who winks at me and squeezes my hand.