I feel you, when I was younger and in high school my old other brother gave me a rock python for christmas, and my mom said h**l no. Being it was a rock python, and would have been my first snake, she was right. But she would have had the same reaction if it was a corn snake. She was cool with lizards, not snakes.
Long story short, eventually i purchased a male boa from my high school teacher, which I kept at my GF's house. Luckily that worked. I now have 3 snakes in my house and am working on starting a small breeding operation (for fun, not to make a living), so keep the faith, and good things will come!!