I strongly related to the anxiety and fear Gage felt when he came to America to live with his father he didn’t know (203). I myself was completely alone and scared when I moved to Ventura County in 1998. Without friends or family to help get myself established I rented a room, went to a temp agency, and started a new job all in one week.

I was supposed to share an office with someone at this new job and that is when I met Gary Gentile. He was a tall thin man in his early fifties filled with an amazing sens

I had never had a father growing up and as the months passed Gary and I soon

Whenever a problem with work or school came up in my life, I would tell Gary. He would look deep into my eyes, lean back in his chair, stretch his feet out and prop them on his desk, casually fold is hands together and rest them on top of his head, and calmly say, “Tell me how you are going to handle this.” Then I would go off in a tangent about what I would say, who I would confront and demand that the problem be fixed. I would get so riled up there was practically smoke seeping out of my ears and he would just smile that easygoing smile of his that made you wonder if life had ever been any kind of struggle for him. “That’s one of your downfalls,” he would say in a tone that sounded more soothing than judgmental, “you always want to act before you think things through.”

I quit my job about six months after my wedding. And like Gage’s teacher who, “was the catalyst that sent him into journalism” (207), Gary told me that I could do whatever I put my mind to. If I wanted something bad enough there were no limits as to how far I could excel. He taught me to think before I reacted, treat others how I expected to be treated in return, not to take the little things in life for granted, ask plenty of questions and not to be so naïve, but the most important lesson he taught me was that I wasn’t alone and someone special really loved me.

Some topics in this essay:
Gary Gentile, , Miss Hurd, Ventura County, Gage America, Nicholas Gage, gage’s teacher, answers life, walk aisle,