Thanks, Mom

Ben and his mom, in happier days.

When my son was seven he performed in an acting-school production of Peter Pan, playing the dastardly Captain Hook so convincingly that afterward many in the audience approached me with the prediction that someday he would be thanking me in his Oscar speech. I agreed, hoping I lived long enough to see it. But despite starring in all the following school plays, majoring in drama in college and a brief stint at a renowned Manhattan acting school, Zack ultimately decided that pretending to be other people wasn't how he wanted to spend his life. Instead, he set his sights on being himself.

I was sad for awhile, having really looked forward to that Oscar speech. But he's made me proud every day doing other things, and so I moved on, barely giving it another thought. Until today, when I read an article online about actor/alcoholic Ben Affleck going off to a rehab facility for the third time at the age of 46.

Ben has won countless film awards for his acting, writing and producing, earning tons of money (his net worth is reportedly $160 million) and rising to the top of the heap in short order. Like him, his younger brother Casey Affleck made it to the top as well, despite his also being an alcoholic and, more recently, an accused sexual predator. Both of these talented young men have won Oscars, and each one publicly thanked his mother in his acceptance speech. That was nice for her, I'm sure, but I doubt she's as as happy as I am today about how her sons turned out.