Jenny,
One the things I have noticed that I seemed never to have before is that you are 100% right. The world (of get togethers, partys etc) do not revolve around booze. My daughter plays ice hockey when we travel to tournaments it seemed that alcohol (when the kids are in bed) seemed to be a big part of it. Get togethers at nght, with lunch (ok maybe the kids aren in bed all the time lol) but it was very much apart of it.
When she no longer drank, you know what? We notice alot of the people we hang with dont drink. We never noticed t but it is true. The fun, laughter, is there MINUS the bad heads in the mornings. The last tournamemt she had, I took her alone. (my daughter) Funny thing is that i "nursed" a beer for about an hour then just switched to coke. I have no problem but was really nervous qabout drinking to much and being one of those folks that people wer smirking about because they wer SOOOO drunk...
Anyway you will find more and more Fun is Fun. It does not need booze to make it so.......