Season of recovery: A home for the holidays

by Tina Cole-Mullins

(Editor’s Note: Faces of Addiction is a continuing series about people who experience drug addiction and the difficulty of recovery. By telling their stories, they hope to help others who are struggling and encourage them to seek treatment and healing.)

December isn’t just a season reflecting holiday cheer—it’s a mirror. For those in recovery, it reflects what’s been lost, what’s being rebuilt, and what still aches.

For Samantha (Craft) and her husband David Rosecrants, this December marks three years of sobriety—and the purchase of a home that was once beyond their dreams. It’s the kind of home you’d find in a Christmas movie: cozy, glowing, and filled with hope. It’s a testament to resilience, partnership, and healing.

But these stories just don’t begin with matching mugs and mortgage approvals. They started while surrounded by wreckage—turmoil, chaos, and the tangled grip of codependency and addiction.

The Rosecrantses’ story

Samantha and David met at the peak of her addiction. She had just left a seven-year relationship, and despite the wreckage, she and David became good friends. “And after that, David just…stayed,” Samantha said.

At the time, Samantha had two young children who were being cared for by her mother. While Samantha spiraled deeper into the dark world of addiction, her mother became the steady presence Samantha’s children needed, holding the family together in the shadows of their mother’s absence.

“Homeless, living in a camper, stealing from stores to live, to make sure we had what we needed for our addiction,” is how the couple described that time in their lives. Samantha and David weren’t partners in romance—they were partners in survival. Their rock bottom wasn’t a single moment—it was a slow unraveling. But somewhere in the chaos, they made a choice: to stop running, to stop numbing, and to start over.

The couple didn’t just get sober—they married. They had to learn how to live again. They had to start with the basics: how to communicate, how to trust and how to dream. And all their work and effort eventually paid off. Today, they live in a home filled with warmth and recovery. The children are back with their mother—in a new home and with a sense of hope.

Their story is not unique—but it is extraordinary. For every Samantha and David, there are hundreds of couples across Michigan still walking parallel paths of pain, perseverance, and transformation.

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, thousands of residents engage in recovery programs each year. And while exact numbers on couple-based approaches are limited, the growing emphasis on joint healing, communication, and rebuilding trust reflects a broader shift in how recovery is supported statewide.

This is part of a larger movement—a culture of recovery—where healing is no longer hidden, but honored. In this culture, homes, families, and communities are rebuilt not just with sobriety, but with connection, accountability and love. 

The Wrights’ story

Cody and Marissa Wright have shared seasons of sobriety—years marked by endurance, grief, growth, and quiet strength. They’ve settled into Cody’s grandparents’ family home. It’s a place that carries the echoes of Christmases past with loved ones now gone. Yet, it also cradles new memories and a peace that doesn’t need wrapping paper and other holiday trappings.

In June 2013, Cody’s brother, Eric, lost his battle with opioid addiction. His mother, Loretta Wright, shared her family’s story in “Faces of Addiction: Not Me, Not My Child, Not the One I Love” in the July 2018 edition of Stockbridge Community News.

In our next installment of Faces of Addiction, learn how the loss of his brother shaped Cody’s journey and continues to influence his sobriety today.

Seasons of sobriety

The Rosecrantses and the Wrights remind us that recovery is not measured only in years, but in seasons of sobriety. Each one brings its own challenges, lessons, and gifts. December, with its lights and traditions, becomes more than a holiday. It becomes a marker of resilience, of families restored, and of homes reclaimed. Their journeys remind us that the greatest gift is not found under the tree—it is found in the courage to begin again, and in the hope that each new season can shine brighter than the last.

Looking ahead, the next story in the series will continue Cody and Marissa’s story. It also will explore how recovery communities across Michigan are building networks of support that extend beyond the household—creating spaces where hope is shared, voices are amplified, and healing becomes a collective journey. 

Resources: 

Andy’s Angels, Jackson: Educates the community about opiate abuse and provides support for families and individuals struggling with addiction. Phone: 517-499-9919.

Author’s Note: In an update on Heidi Mell’s story from October “Faces of Addiction,” the Mell family won their termination case, and are in the process of reunification for the holidays.