Life-gripping addictions knocked them down, but they’re back on their feet again
Published 11:12 am Thursday, September 5, 2019
Weston Aron works in a University of Mississippi biology lab feeding cloned fruit flies. Aron, whose promising academic career at a major university was derailed by drugs, alcohol and arrests, is sober and working hard on his degree at Ole Miss. Photo by Megan Wolfe/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Sam Peeler, who used to begin every day at 10 a.m. by drinking and taking Xanax, eventually wound up in prison. He is sober and working on his degree at the University of Mississippi, thanks to the support network of the university's Collegiate Recovery Community. Photo by Megan Wolfe/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Eric Peters works the line at Grit restaurant in Taylor. The University of Mississippi student, who battled alcohol addiction during his career as an executive chef, has been sober for years and is working on his degree. Photo by Megan Wolfe/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
This time, he spent a week in detox. He found himself in a facility with some people who suffered serious mental health issues. The experience shook him up, so he got out his Alcoholics Anonymous books to pass the time and take his mind off his surroundings.
“There, I figured out that I couldn’t do it my way and make sobriety work,” Peters said. “I didn’t do what I was supposed to do the first time. I wasn’t honest about everything.”
A path into the future
These days, he’s honest about his past and optimistic about the future. He spends time with his sons, who are 7 and 6. He works at Grit. He got engaged to a co-worker who is also in recovery and studying nursing. They married June 22, his 1,301st sober day.
“We go to meetings together,” Peters said. “We share a lot of very similar interests. It’s not just that we both have had admittedly checkered pasts. I don’t want to say that. We just fit together. It’s a great feeling.”
He also fits right into the CRC’s community of those in recovery and found solace in knowing he is not alone. This keeps him going, along with the memory of the consequences of taking that first drink.
At Grit, he sometimes closes the restaurant alone. He walks alone past the fully stocked bar, and he isn’t tempted to take a sip there, even though it’s unlikely anyone would know. He knows he could only hide it for so long before the descent into alcoholism would start.
He doesn’t want to throw away the future he’s carved out for himself, thanks to the CRC, and the chance to earn a degree from the university.
“I’m really grateful for all the opportunities Ole Miss has given me,” Peters said. “It’s amazing to think about what I had been doing and to realize that I’m still around.”
Spending ‘every dollar on Xanax’
Peeler was an Ole Miss freshman who began every day at 10 a.m. by drinking, taking Xanax bars and smoking marijuana.
“I was spending every dollar I could find on Xanax and drinking from 10 a.m. until I passed out, and I would wake back up and start drinking again until I passed out again,” Peeler said.
