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In 2010, a newly sober 31-year-old Karla Mendez Brada met and fell in love with 40-year-old Eric Earle, a fellow Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) member with 20 years of off-and-on sobriety under his belt.

Every day Americans are educated over and over again about the meaning of recovery: celebrities tour the country describing their miraculous redemption due to 12-step rehab; columnists instruct ...