A Big, Beautiful Life
Last Updated on August 11, 2023
Some people are just born alcoholics and addicts, and Sherry firmly believes she is one of those people. Sherry Glasgow Parker was raised in a middle-class home with two loving parents, three younger sisters, and a stepbrother. Her mother never smoked or drank and if her father had a beer, it was rare. Her parents divorced when she was thirteen, but her substance use began well before then, around the age of 9 or 10.
She started with cigarettes and by the time she was twelve, she was smoking marijuana and drinking Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. She dabbled with other drugs like acid, mescaline, and hashish throughout her teenage years, and quickly developed a habit.
“It wasn’t like I just did it on the weekends or in the evening, I was an addict and an alcoholic from the word ‘go,’” Sherry says.
Throughout her teen years, she continued using drugs, but it wasn’t until she was 17 that she faced legal consequences. After stealing a pair of socks from Sears while under the influence, Sherry was arrested and placed in a drug program in Houston, Texas.
She managed to escape three times before the judge gave her an ultimatum: complete the drug program or go to prison. She refused the drug program and served a three-year sentence in prison instead.
A Decade of Sobriety
At 21 years old, Sherry was finally sober and out of prison. Upon her release, she went to a recovery center and halfway house, where she was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous. She adopted this sober, spiritual lifestyle and began a new life for herself. She got married, had two children, and stayed sober for a good long ten years. But her struggle with addiction wasn’t over just yet.
Sherry’s first marriage ended after just two and a half years and her second marriage was with an alcoholic. Ultimately, it ended in divorce, and her sobriety did too.
“I drank again after ten years because I was not doing any of the work. I was just dry,” she says. “I picked up where I left off at 17 and it got worse.”
After about six years of substance abuse, Sherry went back into the program and got sober for the second time in 1998. She stayed sober for several years, but again, the change didn’t last.
Before long, Sherry was dabbling with prescription drugs, which sent her spiraling into another round of substance abuse, filled with drunk driving, wrecked cars, and DWIs. She spent the next fourteen years trying to juggle her marriage, parenthood, and addiction. None of her friends or family members could put up with her behavior for very long, so she hopped from place to place, briefly living with anyone who was willing to try.
“I always had everything that I needed and wanted. I had people that would pick up the pieces for me,” she says. “Here I am, coming up on 58 years old, and I had never been self-supporting in my whole life.”
In January of 2017, Sherry’s son died by suicide. The devastating loss was just one more excuse for her to bury herself in drugs and alcohol, but she had burned all her bridges and had nowhere to go. Instead, Sherry decided to enroll in a 90-day program at Nova Recovery Center, where she would finally make a lasting change.
Real, Personal Transformation
“Even in my drinking, I knew that there was a God that was loving, but I had gotten back into thinking that someday, somehow, I would be able to control my drinking,” she says. “Instead of being a mean alcoholic and addict like I had been in my younger years, I had turned into a recluse and was walking on eggshells, so I could get what I needed to stay high or drunk.”
Many of her friends and acquaintances who had gotten sober earlier in life had given up hope that Sherry would ever find true sobriety and recovery. At Nova, however, things were different. Sherry experienced a type of love and support that she had never experienced before. Instead of forcing her to change, the staff at Nova met her where she was and helped her face the truth about herself and her addiction.
“I had plans to just do my 90 days, get out of there, and go back to drinking and smoking weed,” she says. “About two weeks later, something happened. I just started doing what I was asked to do and what was expected of me. I’ve pretty much been on fire for this program ever since.”
Sherry’s counselors and Recovery Specialists at Nova were an instrumental part of her recovery journey. They challenged her to deal with personal issues like pride, ego, and passive aggressiveness, while also working through her emotions regarding her son’s death so she could fully heal.
“I can never repay what Nova did for me. I’m back in good standing with family and friends and I’m getting better and better every day,” she says. “Today, my daughter and I celebrate my son Kody’s life. We know that he is right here with us, he’s not in pain anymore, and he loves us.”
As a House Manager at a women’s sober home, Sherry does her best to give back what she’s been given in recovery.
“There are a lot of young women I see acting the way I used to when I was in my twenties,” she says. “They’re in denial, expecting others to take care of them, or blaming people and things. I lovingly hold them accountable to what they need to be doing here in sober living, and try to share my experience, whether they get it or not.”
Sherry admits that she was a thief, a liar, and a fraud all her life, but today, she has what she calls a “big beautiful life.” She finally gets to be the person God intended her to be.
Whether you’ve been to treatment before or you’re trying to get sober for the first time, there’s hope for you. Call Nova Recovery Center today to speak with an admissions representative about our 90-day drug and alcohol rehab program.