Mother Held Onto College Bonds And Didn’t Give Them To Me Till I Was 48

I'm not able to share from the original posted location so I'm copy/pasting here:

I didn’t go to college in my 20’s because I didn’t have money. Did my best by working full time and attending junior college full time, but the money I made was only just enough to get meh grades and make enough to just float by. By the time it was time to transfer I knew I didn’t have enough money to go so I concentrated on working and saving as much as I could. My father died when I was 8, so when my mother saw I was working 12ish hours a day, she insisted I help with the house and so I did, as well as pay for misc expenses and my younger brother’s school needs. Years pass, never did save enough to go back, so the military became an option around 30. When I got out at 36 due to injuries sustained overseas, I leveraged the GI Bill to finish my engineering degree and finished at 41.

Anyway, I just found out my dad put away money for me every month when he was alive in the form of educational bonds. More than enough to have gone. I looked it up and it was about 10% of his base pay that he put away. For whatever reason my mom just never gave it to me till recently. I’m now 48. I’m having a hard time processing this. If I had the money when I was 20, I’d have finished college. If I had it back then I’d have started a family far earlier and not have spent $240k on IVF. I’d also not be walking around with a cane. I feel like I missed out on living life from 20 to 36, all because my mother chose to not give the money my father intentionally set aside for me.

Edit: wanted to add. The EE bonds matured in 2011 and are valued at 17k and no longer accrue interest. Since then inflation has severely diminished the purchasing power of the bonds.

TLDR: Mother kept college money my father left for me. I didn't know about it till I was 48 and after I finished my degree at 41. The lack of money forced me to make difficult decisions that I would have otherwise not done.

Ok, so what I'm wondering from this sub is: Do I have any legal recourse here, or any precedent that might help? Realizing that I've lost so much of my life, and potential and actual earnings is mentally draining.

Location: California, US