I have a friend that's NEVER-according to him-taken a drink or touched a drug and he's enmeshed in an utterly dysfunctional relationship with a practicing alcoholic, I know her pretty well also-watched her collect a 1 year token AND give an open talk-found out later from him that she'd been drinking the whole time. Not a pretty picture.
And then there's me, won't get into my story but had I never 'developed' active alcoholism, might not have realized how screwed up my thinking was/is, and would just be a garden variety loon, albeit a clean/sober loon.
These days, I concentrate on how grateful I am to be a recovering alcoholic.