How did you get started using drugs and alcohol? I really didn’t start drinking heavily until I was 32. I came from a really wrecked marriage where my husband had cheated on me many times. Alcoholism ran in my family so I kind of knew I was treading dangerous water, but I really just wanted to numb the pain so I started drinking and going to the doctor and getting pills. Then it just progressively got worse. My husband introduced me to coke and meth for the first time when I was 33 and I found that I really enjoyed the high and the numb that it made me feel. At first it was just a weekend thing. I was still had a career and I was still a good mom. I was still doing all the things I needed to do. I hadn’t crossed over the line at that point in my life yet. It progressively got worse and my life continued to go downhill from there.
How did you end up at Dallas 24 Hour Club? I got sentenced to go to prison in 2017 for drug charges. I did two years in TDC and when I got out I was sober and claiming to be recovered. I did not want to go back to drugs and alcohol because I knew my truth. I had gone to Magdalen House right before I went to prison and got sober there. When I got out I didn’t do anything but run on my own self will. I let a guy get into my head and before I knew it I was at the liquor store with a bottle in my mouth and headed straight to the dope house. I went out for about 7 days and I went to my parole officer drunk and high. She told me if I come back in there like that again I was going back to prison. I wanted to quit but I didn’t know how to stop on my own, I knew I couldn’t. I asked my daughter to take me to detox and she took me to pine street. They didn’t have a bed for me. The doctor told me daughter that she had two choices. She could either take me to the hospital or take me to the liquor store because I was so far gone, I would have died from the alcohol I had been drinking. I went to the hospital for a few days and then back to Magdalen house where I had planned to go to oxford after. My mom was going to help me with money and then last minute she said she wasn’t helping or giving me any money. She told me to figure it out on my own. I was angry and called my sponsor who gave me the feedback that maybe God was removing my human resources so that I would count on him. My friend told me about The 24 and I had seen the old building and heard of it and I didn’t want to go there. I didn’t have a choice, but God had a plan. I wanted to leave but I ended up hurting my ankle and I felt like God was saying to sit down and stay. So, I started working the steps the way they were meant to be worked and not my way. This time I was completely broken down and deflated. To this day I still tell people how grateful I am to have gone to The 24. God changed my life there. Now I carry the message everywhere I go.
Finish this sentence, if it weren’t for Dallas 24 Hour Club, I would be… back in prison.
What is your greatest blessing? To love myself again and to know who I am and that I am worthy and my life matters.
What would you say is your greatest achievement? Giving myself the opportunity to not be fearful of my past. My past does dictate my future. I have an amazing job. I work for Tom Thumb and in six weeks I went from cashier to bookkeeper and front end manager. It just keeps going up. God has blessed me with a job, a car and an apartment. He has so many blessings for me that I would have never known without stepping aside and getting out of the way for Him to work. That for me I am forever grateful.
What is one thing you would like us to know? I want people to know that The 24 isn’t just a homeless shelter. The 24 gave me life again, it helped me to love myself and love others. It helped me help others. It showed me what family was. I have family but they didn’t understand me or that I was just a sick woman. Being there, just being able to relate to people was the most amazing thing. If I need anything people were willing to help and the brothers I gained there, if I walked outside no one was going to mess with me. It is the most amazing place in the world. Like Aaron says it is the most unique place on earth to get recovery and that is a fact.
What does recovery mean to you? It means life, freedom, peace, joy, and happiness. It means being able to give back to others and let them know that they don’t have to stay sick. Its not about me, it’s about sharing what I have been through and letting them know I have walked that path and I am sober. That’s why I carry the message and stay sober today, to help others. I have true freedom today and I am happier than I have been my whole life.