Life is But a Dream

 (All hail to Star Trek 5, which many pan as the bum steer of the series but I still love it)

Life DID feel like a dream yesterday as Zach finally achieved that (first?**) elusive college degree. It’s been like a steeplechase: so many obstacles, putting this mama in mortal fear that he would ever achieve much of anything after what his father put him through.

Divorce & custody battles throughout his childhood, culminating in the horror show of being wrenched away from his school, his friends, and all of his normal routines to spend his senior year completely under his father’s boot heel in that backwater fundamentalist settlement of Poetry.

I knew backlash was inevitable but he was intent on continuing on to Texas Tech - I was pleased as punch that he even managed to gain admission in the first place, after the way his grades had tanked during his junior and senior years! But between acting out and hooking up with a similar party-hearty girlfriend, Z flunked out of Texas Tech, returned home with his tail tucked between his legs, then bounced back-and-forth between here and Houston for a while until that relationship had run its course. (Always painful to watch your child struggle)

Re-enrolled in community college, earned his associate’s degree and transferred to UT-Dallas for the spring of 2020, just in time for the Covid lockdowns! My boy didn’t seem to be able to catch a break, but he soldiered on - took him twice as long as it might have otherwise, but as I said, I’m still unbelievably proud of him. Mother’s Day weekend went well for me, between getting in a ride on Saturday, dinner with Z & V Saturday night, and then another family dinner of Chinese food with Victoria‘s grandparents Sunday night.

I took half a milligram of alprazolam Monday morning, so I could smile placidly at Ex and the slut yesterday - thankfully they did not try to muscle in to sit with us, nor join us for our celebratory luncheon afterwards. Andy is an adjunct professor at UTD, so we were able to get El Primo third-row seats. My beloved cousin John drove in from Tyler to watch Zach walk the stage. It took us a while to find him in the mob after the ceremony, but that worked out just as well because his father found Z first and that gave them ample opportunity to visit, take a few photographs and then go on their merry ways. Z said he felt like a cheap whore when his father handed him a card with $100 bill in it - this man who, of course, contributed not one red cent towards his higher education.

Zach had selected a Cajun-themed seafood restaurant for our celebratory luncheon which was very nice  -this reminds me to go post a nice review for our awesome waiter Darnell. We then adjourned back to Andy & Adela’s house for cheesecake… I felt like a deflated balloon after all these celebrations. I’m glad Peran drove so I could close my eyes in the car for a few minutes during the drive home.

And then even better - Ms Aphrodite eagerly ate four chicken hearts and a liver (she has obviously been fed with forceps before)  which should make her rehab easier. I got all my little dragons fed - Bonnie the tegu is easy since I just have to open a can of dog food, and for Claude I defrosted a rat.