lila often wondered about why she was like this: with the twins, who were busy in kindergarten, eileen, a quiet first-grader following in her mother's footsteps, and ella, just one month old. lila was too busy with her children to have quiet writing time.
she decided she was to get a babysitter and go to the public gardens to write.
when she discussed this with the children, their immediate response was no.
"i'll miss you, mom," said eileen.
"don't go," said emmett.
"we don't like babysitters," said elijah.
"waaa!" said ella.
but lila insisted.
the next day lila packed up pen, pencil, paper, and ideas and left the sitter in charge. she headed to the garden. she supposed it would be easy without eileen interrupting her and elijah climbing on her and emmett bouncing a ball around and ella wailing at her.
she arrived, unpacked, and thought for a minute, then she repacked and went home.
being a mom was more important.
anyway, she had more ideas with all the children hopping around.