So tonight I went to my garden

[wellstone dem]

On the day I had planted my garden there was a Somali woman and her daughter in the park that my garden is in. We had talked briefly about what I was planting and when I showed her a picture of the carrots, she told me they planted carrots in Africa. I told her that if she came back in August I would give her carrots.

Tonight, she was there again, sitting at the picnic table watching children, and I said hello. It was a beautiful night to work in the garden. And there were so many children, all Somali, playing in the park. There were two boys on the merry go round, when I looked up one was laying on the ground. His friend helped him up, they laughed because the boy had got dizzy and fell while trying to walk.

There were two girls playing, then one said, "You're being mean." "Am not" the other replied. "Are too." "Am not".... Kids were playing soccer. One boy yelled out. "I am a legend!" Two girls went by, one pushing the other in a stroller. They saw me watching, and the girl in the stroller started to pretend she was a baby.

It all made such a wonderful evening in the park. Then a car drove by and two young men leaned out the windows and yelled. "This is America!" "America" "Yeah, this is America!" And they drove off. I walked over to the woman I had spoken with and told her I was sorry that people yelled things like that. She looked at me and smiled, I don't think she understood what I said. But a girl who was standing nearby seemed to be explaining as I left.

I went back to my garden. I planted more carrots. As I left, I leaned out my car window and waved at my friend. She waved back with a huge smile on her face.

I'm not sure why I still feel like crying.