LUTZ, Fla. — The new year brings new goals, new hopes, new attitudes. Making major changes is possible. A Tampa couple is now using their personal story to inspire others.
There's a bright, welcoming, little plant-based restaurant in Lutz called Revelations Cafe. It's the successful creation of a couple who came together 10 years ago at the lowest point in their lives.
"I was a stay-at-home mom for over 20 years and was just a casual social drinker... until I wasn't," Mia Graham said.
Mia Graham was at an AA meeting in 2013 when she met Robby. "I was not really supposed to be at an outside AA meeting but they allowed me to go."
Robby, once a successful businessman, was picking up the pieces of his life.
"I injured my back squatting and I got on pain pills," he said. "It went from eating them, to snorting them, to shooting them. I became an IV drug user. Within three years I lost everything. I was homeless at the Salvation Army in 2013. I was three months clean and sober."
Mia remembers those days after they met.
"It was a challenge dating someone who was homeless, being a stay-at-home mom, financially stable, to believe that this was really God's plan for my life so there was a lot of doubt and fear on my part," she said.
But she kept her faith and a had vision of what their lives could be. It included Revelations Cafe. "I knew the name, I knew the color, I knew the purpose."
And Robby helped her vision come to life. They created a cafe with something for everyone.
"We're three-part beings — we're body, mind and spirit so if we have all of those in balance it just seems that we're actually going to be able to walk this thing called life out, much more accomplished and we'll have more peace and we'll be more grounded. So yes, we look at all three aspects," he said.
For Mia, it's simple. "The concept is love."
Revelations opened in 2019 and brings in customers, not only for the food... but the fellowship.
The Grahams have written a book about their story, how they met and opened the cafe. They most recently premiered a documentary about how they started Revelations Cafe. Click here to find out more.