“By the time I was 14 I had my first felony, and I could say I was totally addicted to drugs and alcohol.” Melody Woods says she had to go through the juvenile system and was ordered by a court to “an intensive outpatient treatment center.”
During a conversation at the StoryCorps Mobile Tour stop in Kalamazoo, Woods’ friend and colleague Ashley Choker, asked “at what point did you finally say ‘enough with substances'.”
Woods says “I met my husband, he was a nice guy. He worked full time from a really good family, that told each other they loved each other, and gave each other hugs when they saw each other, nothing like I ever knew before.”
Woods and her family started a catering business, but one day her husband Derek slipped on ice, fell and was paralyzed. Woods says she realized she had to go back to school. “I gotta do something, I only have a GED.”
When Woods went back she excelled academically. “I got really involved in the school, I brought my kids to all these extracurriculars.”
Woods says now she is looking forward to the next stage of life.
