I stayed late in the shop last Friday. We close at 6, but I was still there finishing up some things around 6:20 when I heard footsteps and laughter on the porch and a woman’s voice saying, “The lights are on, let’s try it.” In they came – the three of them – with laughter and a, “Are you still open?” How could I not be? They seemed like fun! “Sure,” I said, “what’s going on?”
I proceeded to hear that one of them had bought a bra in the shop in November and according to the other two, had not stopped talking about it. “I bought this one bra that I love,” (this was accompanied by the “shirt-lift” … gotta love the “shirt-lift” – for those of you scratching your head, this is where a woman lifts up her shirt right here in the middle of the shop to show us the bra she’s wearing) and there was another one I tried on that I didn’t buy and I want to see if you still have it and get it.” Turns out we did have it and she bought it and if the story ended right there, it would be an incredible one. Seriously,…a woman comes in 4 months ago and gets a bra she loves, THEN she comes in to get another one she’s been thinking about, AND she brings two friends who have heard good things about bras for the past 4 months? C’mon, this is a great story!
Turns out it that it was one of the friends’ birthdays, they were visiting from Connecticut, and only the one out of the three was happy with their bra. There was discussion and urging for one of the friends in particular to get a fitting. She had never had one and I wouldn’t say she was skeptical, but maybe reluctant and resigned to the notion that bras aren’t something that can be liked. I offered to stay and help with a fitting, but I could tell that she wasn’t quite ready, plus they had dinner reservations, so they said they’d come back tomorrow. As they left, the third friend – not the one who liked her bra or the one that the other two were urging to do a fitting – stayed a little bit behind and told me that traditional bras just don’t work for her anymore after her double mastectomy and reconstruction. She said she’s kind of given up trying and just wears those little pull over your head things or makes due.
On Saturday, two of them came back in – the happy bra-wearer and the urged-to-try-a-fitting friend. Long story short, we found the friend a bra and she wore that bra out of the shop. She was standing up straighter and she was smiling. Yes!
So now this fun little story just got better, right? Let’s re-cap: A woman from Connecticut comes in to the shop and buys a bra. She’s so happy with it that she tells her friends about it. She comes in four months later to buy another bra and she brings two friends. One of the friends does a bra fitting for the first time in her life and leaves the shop with a brand new bra and – dare we say – a brand new attitude about bras! End of story?
Nope.
I had the day off Sunday and received a text from Courtney in the middle afternoon that started with all caps, “DO NOT CRY.” You see, I cry a lot at the shop to the point where Courtney and Connie can predict it. When I cry, it is because something has touched me so deeply that I can’t do anything but cry. This happens a lot. Have I mentioned how much I love owning a bra shop?
As I continued to read the “DO NOT CRY” text, I learned that the third friend had come in on Sunday to give the shop a chance to help her find a bra. This was the friend with the double mastectomy/reconstruction. She found one…with Courtney’s help. In Courtney’s words via text, “…we spent a while trying different things and she left delighted!”
I don’t know what about this story makes me cry the hardest. Each woman’s story is really enough to set the tears in motion. But I have to say, Courtney helping that third friend find a bra has brought my crying to a new level. I can take a day off and be assured that every woman – even and especially a woman who has been to hell and back – can find some joy in that little bra shop. Our mission to help women find their joy from the inside out is not about me. It is about JOY. Having a team of ladies working in your bra shop who get that and can actually DO that? – amazing.
As for my day off…sometime I’ll write about what I did that day. It was a crazy wonderful day in my personal life. The kicker is is that Courtney wasn’t even supposed to work that day. Her travel plans got cancelled which allowed her to work…and allowed me to have the day off. So when you add all this bra shop stuff on top of everything else…well… There I go crying again.
Gratefully flowing and I swear I can’t make this stuff up,
Joy
