Even island girls suffer sciatic pain?

Even island girls suffer sciatic pain?

So for the last month I have been having this "pain in the hip" which eventually someone said "it sounds like sciatica".  I googled it, I started doing the stretches and exercises, I sat on a ball, and bought new shoes with "good support" .... I refused to go see anyone and I refused pain killers because  I am a busy mom of 3 young children with a business to run and no time for doctors and "I don't do drugs". Actually the  bottom line is just that I AM STUBBORN.

Stubborn-ness came to a head last Saturday morning when I tried to get out of bed and ended up on the floor.  In fact I spent most of the weekend on the floor.  Sunday morning the pain was even more debilitating so I ended up in ER.  I was given DRUGS and sent home with a piece of paper referring me for an MRI.

Four days of laying on the floor later, and I finally had my MRI.  I wore my Aloha Dress under my winter clothing....

and was so glad I did, because I was made to wear one of those open back hospital gowns.  My little ALOHA Dress gave me some dignity!

I am doing my best not to panic about the fact that I need to fly 30 hours to Miami for Miami Swim Show in less than 2 weeks !  Thinking about my own health journey, reminded me of my customer Martha who was to have a hip operation this year.....  Here is what Martha wrote to me...

"I don’t know if I told you why I’m loading up on all your wonderful merchandise.  Here’s the story:  Am going to South Carolina late March (two months from today, as a matter of fact) for hip surgery.  And then I’m going to Florida to recover, and start putting miles of walking on my new joint. (I live on a dirt road with ruts and dust here in Santa Fe, and I just prefer being on pavement, with boats all around, know what I mean?)  Cowboy duds don’t cut it in West Palm.  And I need easy, bright, happy, loose togs that I can wrap around myself and slip over my head. So…your sarongs and tunics!
My hip recovery saga is probably not the brand niche you want to go after. But I thought you’d personally like to know the role your clothes are playing in my life.  I’ve been in some degree of hip pain for 20+ years.  And your clothes will be what I’m wearing as I walk my way into a pain-free new life."

Here are a couple of cool cotton tunics Martha chose to wear in Florida after her HIP OP (us Australian's shorten everything, including Hip Operation)

 

Then Martha sent me this photo of her collection of sarong charms hung at her desk.

 

 That's funny because I have a sarong charm hung on my office desk lamp too.

Seems like you guys are more than "customers" ... we actually have a lot in common...."island friends" is more like it indeed.

Martha is a writer and went on to include some lovely words about us in her recent article....

As for the resort wear: When you flip through the back pages of any recent issue of Coastal Living magazine, you’ll find a small ad for West Indies Wear, showing pretty models in pretty tropical clothes in pretty tropical settings. Beach cover-ups. Dresses. Tunics. Sarongs. All printed with star fish, mermaids, sea turtles, sailboats, scallops in sweet pinks, aquas, turquoises. Total eye candy for this particular mid-winter resident of the Santa Fe high desert. A sarong is much more affordable than a cottage by the sea; so the credit card does a little jig in my wallet.

As delightful as these items are, there are always seasonal leftovers after Thanksgiving. And so there is the predictable batch of inventory earmarked for a Black Friday sale. This year, though, the company’s customers were in for a disappointment. But we got over it.

Over 1,000 pieces that were originally slated for the Black Friday sale were rerouted to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. No, it wasn’t a mistake. It was a donation. Hurricane Irma had practically obliterated St. Maarten, and the survivors were left with nothing. No jobs (no tourism), no homes, no clothes. So all those pretty frocks, perfectly designed for the heat and humidity of island living, went to St. Maarten, where they were distributed on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas).  You can find the full article here.

So grateful for my island friends sharing my journey with me.  The 2019 collection is coming along nicely and I will do my upmost to be on that long haul flight to Miami to get this 2019 party started.  One love x

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