Isn't Education More Important than Getting Even?

Education has always been important to my family. My father and brother went to Yale. My uncle went to Princeton, and I have sisters who went to Columbia, NYU and Carleton. I went to UVA.

Unfortunately, I lost all ability to exert any parental guidance over any of my three children due to parental alienation syndrome or PAS (which some people term as child abuse) during my interminable divorce. None of my children has visited me, or communicated with a single relative of mine, since 2003. The last communication of any sort I had with any of them was in 2007.

Occasionally I pick up scraps of information about them from casual conversations during chance encounters with nodding acquaintances. More intel came in the mail this month. The Virginia Pre-paid College Tuition Plan sent me its yearly summaries. I own three fully-paid plans with them as the beneficiaries.

One child, who went to the premier technological public high school in the country, has all four years left on his plan. He eschewed going to college. This is a shame, and I hope all those divorce lawyers and "professionals" that my ex-wife used to foster his total alienation from my family are proud. They all at least have educational degrees which enable them to lucratively indulge in, in my opinion, childhood-destroying and future-wrecking quackery.

One child, who went to a highly-regarded public high school in the area, has almost fully used up the plan I purchased which pays for all of his tuition and fees. He is apparently on track to graduate from a state university in June. I wish him well, and if he lets me know when and where his graduation will be, I'll be proud to come.

One child, who was sent off by his Mother to an out-of-state boarding school run by her cousin, has half of his plan's eligibility left. This must mean that he dropped out of college in September. Too bad! Yet another young casualty of the divorce wars!