"Something he said last week scared me and I now realize why. He mentioned a woman in his meeting saying that she realized that no matter how many times you slip or what you do wrong, AA is the only group which will welcome you back. He so enjoyed saying that to me that I felt he had a realization that he could mess up over and over and it was okay. He wouldn't be judged and could always quit and rejoin AA anytime he wanted. It sounded to me like he was giving himself a free pass to drink whenever he felt like it and he was happy about it."
My AH was sober for 98 days before drinking again for 8 days straight. Thru all that week of drinking, he attended his AA meetings and explained to me the same thing as you said above. Even now, he has been sober since 9/12 and going to meetings, but in almost all the meetings he goes to, everyone there relapses from time to time, over and over. I said "Gee, I thought AA tries to promote long term or lifelong abstinance". He said they do, but if you screw up, they welcome you back with open arms. I agree, to me it sounds like a free pass to screw up too, that's why I'm attending 5 Alanon meetings a week so WHEN it DOES happen again, and I know it will, I will have a good mindset and be equipped to act, not react.