The Craziest Thing I Did Before Kids
“We were both about to leave when one of the men who were chilling there called out to us in broken English and asked if we were looking for the party. ”
On Not Safe For Mom Group’s IG stories, we were talking about the crazy and sometimes dangerous sh*t we got into before becoming moms, and how funny (ish) it is when we think about the things that cause us anxiety and fear as grownups (like walking to your car alone in a parking lot at night, or having to talk to other adults at music together class.)
One mom, @mselliemayhem, wrote about how she used to go to raves in abandoned warehouses:
You wanted to know THE FULL STORY, so here it is, in her own words:
”So this has actually happened twice (possibly three times) to me. Once in San Fran during the underground heydays of the 90s and another time in Paris in the late 90s. The one in Paris was little more insane though as I was alone-ish for that experience….
We had been living in a hostel off Princess St. in Edinburgh for a couple months and a few of us decided to take a Eurobus around Europe for a month. First stop Amsterdam (lived up to the hype, stayed at that iconic pig hostel, forget the name) and second stop was Paris. One stayed on in Amsterdam, two of us went Paris, but he had caught chicken pox there.
After taking him to the hospital I decided to check out the nightlife. I picked up the an expat paper and found a small add for a rave with just an address, sounded promising and deliberately vague.
Fast forward to that evening I managed to take the Metro and find the location close to the old PSG stadium (I bring this up because they must have lost and there were riot police out and about dealing with football hooligans as I arrived).
There was nothing there . . . except for a couple scattered homeless people. This was pre-cell phone, so it wasn't like I could check if I was in the right spot. But right before I was about to give up another woman from Iowa showed up looking for the same party.
We chatted for a minute or two and were both about to leave when one of the men who were chilling there called out to us in broken English and asked if we were looking for the party. He gave us the the address for the actual rave some 30min outside Paris in an industrial warehouse.
Now at this point you would think that would be it, right? We were both without a car and this was pre-Uber. Just our luck, a group of Germans in a van pulled up looking for the party as well. They didn’t give off Taken vibes, so we took advantage of the situation.
The rave was huge and amazing. Probably 8 different rooms at once. Worth the crazy to get there. And we somehow even managed to find our way back via commuter train and Metro the next day.”
A hard story to top, for sure, but I’m sure you have some good ones. And for those wondering, no, this was not Robert Pickton (the guy who murdered women and fed them to the pigs.) Share your stories in comments!
