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“Getting to Know Sue Clifton, Dooney & Bourke”: A...

What inspires you?

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Hi my friends, I would love to introduce you to our new JAI Inspiration Collection. This collection will feature an array of inspirational designs that are inspired by my experiences throughout life and the beliefs these experiences have taught me.

I truly feel life is too short to complain about what we don’t like. In my experience, I have found the more I share what I love, the more I discover how much I have in common with others. Ultimately, I would like this Inspiration Collection to be an opportunity to celebrate what brings us together.

As many of you may know, I was raised the 4^th of 5 children by two wonderful parents who taught me by example how to become the man that you see today. Many of the things I experienced with my family have shaped my outlook on life. I would like to share a specific story about my mom, she is the biggest inspiration behind our new ‘Believe & Faith’ diamonique necklaces.

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These first designs were inspired by my mom, Donna. She was a stay at home mom who along with my Dad, Richard, raised 5 kids together. Looking back, we really did live the All-American Dream. My mom was the sun in our family. She was warm, loving, and the center of our universe. My dad was the ultimate dad. He was the coach of every one of our teams, the disciplinarian of the house, and the perfect example of an honest hardworking man.

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Mom and me when I was around 2 years old.

Growing up in South Florida, my mom was always an avid tennis player. Once we were all at school, my mom would head on over to the local courts where she played on the city team for 3 decades. She always called tennis her ‘therapist’. She said when she was on the court, she was just Donna……not a mom, not a wife, not a daughter, just a tennis player trying to win a point.

On October 30^th, 2001, my mom at the age of 60 was on the way to the courts for a city match. While she sat at the stop sign waiting to turn into the tennis center, she was hit from behind by another car.

When my mom awoke, almost a week later down in a Miami hospital, she was told how she had been in a car accident. Her doctor explained to her that they put her in a medically induced coma, had major surgery, and that because of the accident she was now a quadriplegic who was paralyzed from her shoulders down.

As I write this, close to 15 years later, tears still find their way down my cheeks as the memories come flooding back. I would like to share a specific memory of my mom that continues to provide strength to me today.

One of the fist mornings after she came to, we had a conversation about what happened. It was about 5am when we began to talk. As we talked, the tears came streaming down her cheeks as she just stared at the hospital ceiling. My mom and I have always been incredibly close, we’ve spent our lives talking about our hopes, dreams , blessings, and worries. Yet in that silence, I didn’t know what to do, I started to say to her, that if this isn’t the life that she wanted, she didn’t have to fight for us. I told her that all 5 kids were raised, that we would take care of Dad and we would understand if she didn’t want to fight. Seeing my mom in this state was almost too overwhelming. In that moment she looked over at me with this bewildered expression and said, ‘Oh my gosh, are you going to kill me?’ after a couple moments of silence we both started to laugh out loud. She said she was crying because she felt so blessed and that all she could feel was gratitude. I quickly looked to see if she was on a drip of morphine or something but there wasn’t any medicine hooked up to her. I said, Mom you do know that you are paralyzed. She said yes, she told me how she had been praying to God over the past couple of years about what was her purpose now that all the kids were raised. She said that her arthritis had been killing her and she knew it was only a matter of time before she would have to quit tennis. I was astounded at her outlook. I told her she should be a little more specific the next time she prays because this was a lot to comprehend. She looked at me and said, do you realize that I have driven that same street since all of you kids were born? She went on to tell me that if this accident had happened with you kids in the car, or if she had been hurt and couldn’t raise her own children, then she might have thought God had forsaken her. She looked up at me with a smile and said something amazing is going to happen, she said this happened for a reason. She said, I know you are going to think I’m crazy, but I was chosen for this. She then looked at me and asked, ‘Did your sister bring my make-up here?’ I said yes, she said good, can you please put my face on, Dr Green does his rounds early in the morning, and he is adorable.

They originally gave my mom a matter of hours to live when she was first brought to the hospital. I am blessed to say that she lived another 14 years. Years full of memories that we will never forget. Years that saw her welcome 7 grandkids to the family, including my daughter Olive. When Olive was born, she looked at me and said, ‘Part of me is inside this little girl’. What I didn’t tell her was that was exactly what I had been praying and hoping for.

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Olive and my Mom

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Olive Madonna Grimes, Olive’s middle name is my Mom’s name

My mom had a faith like no other, but she also had faith and belief in herself. As a child she would always say, ‘Scott, you have no idea what I see inside of you, you are an amazing person, and I’m blessed to call you mine’. Anytime I struggled in life (and there were many times), she always taught me to believe in myself and have faith in my journey.

I hope you love our new Faith and Believe necklaces. Whether you’re like me and sometimes still need a reminder to ‘Believe’ and have ‘Faith’, or you know someone special who has lost their belief and faith in themselves. Please enjoy our new Inspiration Collection.

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