Raves




It was all because we had moved once again, my family and me. After some significant ups and downs, with more downs if we are being completely honest, we finally settled in an amazing place where we could all be together at peace. While looking for a place to eat one day, a friend of mine suggested a recently opened restaurant called Raves that was about a five minutes drive from my house.

I was not disappointed at all. Not only was it very very close to my house, it was just my kind of place. Warm and homely, with dimmed yellow lights, soft music, great location, not too many of the people I know and it had really good food. I didn't know it then when my friend suggested that I try the mocca milkshake that a tradition had just started.  Not only did Raves become my go to place, the mocca milk shake became my drink.


Before long, I was having all my first dates with the various pursuers at Raves. Then, all the waiters were asking if I wanted ‘the usual’, and if I wanted to sit at my spot… it was great! I loved everything about being there, what was happening at that particular time and what could possibly happen after that. All through late 2013 and early 2014, I knew I had found my niche. But then the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months and now here we are at the end of the year, just right after Christmas and I’m hurriedly driving by the Raves neighborhood on my way to some other place. I look up just in time to see it; my Raves.


The parking spot where I had been picked up and dropped various times, the seat in the right corner of the balcony, the soft music barely heard from the road, soft yellow glow coming out of the main area and the delicious aroma I knew wasn't deceitful at all. What had happened? Why did I throw Raves out of my life completely when every fiber in me just wanted to go in right now? Had I found what I was looking for whenever I went there back in the day? Surely I hadn't changed so much that places like the Raves were no longer my cup of tea… Had I gotten too caught up with the roller-coaster of my life that was 2014 that I didn't even have time to do the things that made me who I am? 

Had I outgrown Raves?

As I resumed my drive to this new more important place, I thought about all these things. I wondered if I would come back to Raves as often as I used to. I thought about what the place had represented in my life, the phase that I was in at that time. I thought about how I had felt whenever I was there. I thought about if I wanted to feel that feeling again. I thought about how much potential I had seen in Raves; it was supposed to be the place that us friends would call our spot till we were old and gray, it was to be the place I would go with my future husband and father of all my children for our first date, and where I came to get away from it all, or get drunk with my girlfriends on a wild Friday night out. It was to be the place I would come to when I needed to get some work done, or needed to grab a quick dinner to take home. Memories were supposed to be made at Raves.


As I reached my destination, I knew for certain that the answer was yes. I might be at a different place than I was then, but it’s still me underneath it all. The same old dreamer with the same old hopes and dreams… Raves was definitely coming with me to the year 2015.




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