Hi Philly,
I only have one or two sober friends and there are fortunately only a few people that I have had to distance myself from. That being said, community is really important for me in recovery.
You don't have to attend AA meetings at all, there are other sober groups out there and as you said, Meetup.com is a good place to organise a new social life! I have attended a bunch of groups through there and met some cool people.
This is a wonderful community and welcome :-)