Kate- that’s all I want is a normal life for my son ( and me too!). My son is a very bright young man who was in the process of getting his PhD in Philosophy. He had received some scholarships and awarded conferences for his work. He was good at it. And he has drank it all away. He will not be able to finish his PhD and now he drinks because of the disappointment of that. He blames our education system that he says doesn’t support his type of degree and that our education system isn’t free, even though he was unwilling to work during his studies and lived off of the loans. Meanwhile he has accumulated a massive student debt that he most likely never be able to pay back in his lifetime which gives him anxiety so he drinks. He’s alone- he doesn’t even date. I don’t know how he would find someone to share his life with the massive debt he has. My standards for him have gotten so low, that I don’t care if he lives the rest of his life in his small apartment as long as he’s sober, paying his own way and generally content. I’d take that.
