I must say that this is the first time I have ever seen a post like this, and many reading this would be very envious of being given a 3k budget to spend on astro gear.
Your Son obviously wants to see you happy, but without a demonstrated interest and desire to get into stargazing I think its foolish to run out and spend 3k like that, especially now that second hand scopes of value have become difficult to on-sell for anything like a reasonable percentage of original cost.
Perhaps test the waters by visiting one of the astro societies public viewing nights, and see if the spark of interest can be rekindled.
If not, tell your Son that your unrealised dreams lie elsewhere. Ever wanted to go skydiving?
