Quinn’s 30% Off Coupon at Kohls A to Z Blogging Challenge

Blogging from A to Z Challenge
April 2015
This month I will be participating in the “Blogging from A-Z Challenge”

What is it?

I will be Blogging everyday beginning on April First with a topic themed on something with the letterA, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until I finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.   The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day.

My theme will be short fictional (well mostly fictional) stories about women.  Each woman’s name will begin with the appropriate letter of the alphabet for that day.
All of the women will have the common life experience of a loss of some type.
I invite you, Dear reader, to comment on how you interpret the loss.

Quinn

She grabbed the coupon from the pile of the day’s mail and stashed it into her pocket.  She anxiously waited, pacing back and forth, while her husband got ready for work.  She hurried the children along.
“Come on guys,” she yelled.  “Your gonna be late!” she called up to their rooms.
She kissed her husband good-bye and waved to the kids as they boarded the bus.
She sighed, put the kettle on and looked forward to a few minutes of peace and quiet.
Quinn was a stay at home mom.
She went back to work for a brief time after her daughter, Lauren, was born.
When she would pick Lauren up from the day care center at the end of each day, the infant room teacher, Sue, would tell Quin all about Lauren’s day.  How she smiled.  What foods she preferred. How Sue would sing to Lauren and rock her to sleep for her morning nap.
 Quinn  soon decided she wanted to be the one experiencing every minute of her baby’s early years and Bill agreed.
She left her job six months after Lauren was born.
Two years later, they got pregnant with Luke.  That was 12 years ago.
It hadn’t been easy to manage with only one salary.  Bill’s parents helped with a down payment and they moved into their first home right after Luke was born.
Once the kids started school, Quinn considered finding a part time job, to help with the finances. But, by then she had established a routine of volunteering at the children’s school, driving Lauren and Luke to dance class or soccer, taking care of the bookkeeping for the consulting business that Bill did on the side, and caring for her ill mother.  Besides she liked being there when the kids got home from school.
Most nights she would wake at 2:00 a.m.  Her mind would not quiet.  She tossed and turned trying to get comfortable.   It was during those dark times that she wondered who Quinn was.   She would push those thoughts aside though, because she figured that there would be plenty of time, just for her, later on.
Bill worked long hours.  At least three times a week, he would miss having dinner with her, Lauren and Luke.  They tried to set aside a date night, “at least once a month,” they promised each other.  But, that rarely happened.   She figured there would be plenty of time, for just the two of them, later on.
Quinn had a pretty face, with almond shaped hazel eyes, an upturned nose and a dimple in one cheek.  She wore her brown hair long and straight.
She struggled with weight, though.   She had never lost the pregnancy pounds.  Every year since Luke was born, she gained another 5 pounds.  She tried the latest diets.  When success wasn’t immediate, she’d give up. She figured there would be plenty of time, to get back into shape,  later on.
She wasn’t exactly sure when the shopping thing had started.  Was it five years ago when the new mall was built and Kohl’s had their grand opening?
Or maybe it started  when she began to have those restless, and sleepless nights.  She would quietly get out of bed, turn on the TV in the family room and obsessively flip between the HSN or QVC stations.
She began to hide her purchases and monthly statements.  She knew she should get the spending under control.  She figured there would be plenty of time to do that, when the kids were off on their own, later on.
For now, though, she won the jackpot.  A 30% off coupon at Kohls.