The last Sunday of each month my home group celebrates sobriety birthdays. Each home group member, and others who care to participate, brings a dish for a potluck. Someone else brings cakes. The chairperson has usually lined up a good speaker for this event, someone who'll share for fifteen minutes before picking a topic. This is a great event for newcomers to attend because they are able to observe how those who have been sober for a while celebrate recovery.

In the past all many of us knew about parties was to indulge in drug and alcohol filled sessions that often didn't end happily. The goal was not to celebrate anything. The goal was to get out of our mind and satisfy our addictions.

On these Sundays, though, we get to see living examples upon which to model our sober lives. We hear stories of those who've overcome obstacles, yet remained clean and sober. We learn that death, divorce, loss of job, automobile accidents, foreclosures, are ordinary events in the course of life – not excuses to get drunk or high. We learn that life sober is better than life in the middle of addictions.

We see others who have escaped the downward spiral that nearly took their lives.