Andrew | Philadelphia, PA

Being the baby of the family, it’s good. I mean, you really can’t complain, because you get to learn from your older siblings’ mistakes, and they teach you along the way. You struggle sometimes just because everybody expects that you do the best. There is a higher expectation for you. Just because if they made that mistake, you shouldn’t do the same mistake again. Then that means that sometimes you don’t get to run your own path and make those mistakes.

I remember sophomore year in college, I had like a mini midlife crisis because I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what was going on. And I didn’t know who I was. And I didn’t want to finish school because it’s not what I wanted to do, it was what my mom and dad wanted me to do, and they were paying for it. So that’s when everything stopped. And I stopped going to school, I lost my scholarship for college. And I decided to do it my way. I decided to do everything the way that I wanted to do it and make my own decision. So, I started going to work and going to school part-time and finishing that way. And that’s during that whole time period was when I started dating somebody and just said, you know, we’re just gonna do it and I’m gonna let it happen and just let it be what it is instead of controlling it through a strategic way of thinking or planning.

I feel like that in itself was enough for me to feel comfortable in saying that, you know, I waited enough time. I know who I am. I can feel it, that’s the way that I want to live my life. So, this is a decision that I’m making. And you know, I didn’t make this decision just because one day I woke up and I felt like I was. I felt confident in it. I had my brother, my sister, my brother’s wife, my cousin, some of my cousins knew by that point. So, I felt when my dad asked, “How is the family going to take it?” I responded that a lot of them already know. And you’re about the only one that doesn’t know. So, you can’t hold that against me now, I feel confident that I have people who are backing me up.

Andrew, He/Him
Philadelphia, PA

Interviewed & Photographed by: louie ortiz-fonseca

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