The person I am about to speak of has had a profound influence on how I live my life. He is a positive influence who is always there for me no matter what, along for the ride and ready to support me. That friend of mine, well his name is Giovanni but he likes to go by Gio. Gio is your average kid; he lives here in West Seattle by Westwood village. He is proficient at the bass and a well rounded athlete. He seemed to always be mellow. Not really upset or sad or eccentric, just plain cool, just like the other side of the pillow. I’m not here to tell you how he influences me but to show you how who he is, and how I wouldn’t be the same without him.

It was about January 4, 2006 and it was the first day of school and we had just returned from break. I had walked into my 5th grade class when a towering figure stood across the room. “Who is that?” I asked sheepishly. “That’s the new kid, His names Gio,” my teacher replied. Gio was a tall, skinny figure with a very bored disposition on his face. He was very silent when I had first met him. “Hey, where are you from?” “Tukwila,” he said with a very deep voice. “So do you want to meet everyone?” “Sure.” The bustling playground with its brown bark and colorful equipment was the perfect starting spot to get Gio comfortable with his new environment and soon enough, the tall tree was a part of our school garden (if school was a garden).

At first, we weren’t very close, but strangely enough years later; we would end up the best of friends, but probably only because I had a field trip the same day as his school. It was a cold wet day in September at the Puyallup fair when we collided in a line for a ride. The wind was blustery so my hat had gotten blown off and he picked it up. When I figured out who had saved my hat, I yelped with excitement. “Gio, it’s so nice to see you.” “What’s up Thomas, long time no talk?” From that moment on we had become inseparable. Kids now and days though they are not racist still prefer to have best friends of similar races, but the unique thing about Gio and I was that he was African American and I was Asian. This made for an interesting pair because we had no racial barriers. He is tall and I am short. People say that I am disciplined and insightful while he was creative. We created a very balanced way of thinking. This taught me that opposites do attract and that maturity makes us better people. When I couldn’t figure out a problem for whatever reason because of how I looked at it, he showed me that there was always another way to think or see it through. When my girlfriend and I were having difficulties, Gio explained to me that by thinking about me and being selfish, I wouldn’t be able to be happy so I spoke with my girlfriend and thanks to Gio, it had become a stable relationship.

Gio isn’t the greatest influence which I can say with a nervous face. I remember recently we had looked at his grades online. The subtle homely ambiance of my living room surrounded us with the television giving off static and the warmth of the heater warming the house. “Dang bro, it looks like my computer is an orange because of all those D’s. How do you live with yourself?” “I’m just really lazy bro.” Even though Gio’s academics don’t really do his great personality justice, that experience taught me that being lazy is bad and I can help him with school.

Gio is a one of a kind person. His lifestyle is different from my own but more or less, that teaches me that life is always better with good people around you making you a better person.