Hey Leigh!
I sobered up after I moved away from my hometown. I was in a city where I essentially had no friends besides my husband, our roommates and the woman at the liquor counter at the grocery store. Still, when I showed up at the New Year's Eve party back down home, my friends were supportive. They saw the downward spiral I was on. I'd long ago gone from cute, funny drunk to over the top, out of control alcoholic. The is always copious amount of booze at the party and drunken shenanigans. I'm always surprised when most of my friends don't get blackout drunk.
I've moved again and I am fortunate enough to have made all my friends in the program so the issue of drinking at outings doesn't often come up. Besides my husband's work functions, I only encounter social drinking when I go back down home for the holidays. Basically, I have no control over other people's drinking and they have no control over mine. If my teetotaling disturbs someone, that's their problem. If someone's (responsible) drinking is bothering me, there's a problem with me. I don't like to be around someone who's blind drunk (New Year's Eve is an exception) so I make a point of not being involved with that. That whole scene has lost it's magic for me.
Good friends will support you but we cannot expect people to drastically alter their lives for our sake. They don't have an issue with drinking. I mean, if I go to lunch with a vegan, I'm not going to order the Tofu Surprise for their sake. I'm gonna have me a Bambi's Mom sausage with a side of Smoked Babe's Belly and Brussels sprouts.
