ᴄᴀʟʟ ᴍᴇ ᴍʀ. sᴀɴᴅᴍᴀɴ

The first eleven years of his life were spent traveling from country to country. While most would consider this a privilege, he never really found himself connecting with anyone his age because his time in each city varied. Sometimes it would be a week, others a month and then he was off to the next adventure. His father tried to convince him at a young age that this was part of the initiation. He'd always ask what that meant and never received a straight answer. It seemed that his father's best illusion was always the idea of being present and helping his son to grow. Even his own parents had suggested at one point that Andrea come to live with them in Florence where he could be around children his own age learning subjects that would help him land a more practical occupation.

It was always his father's adamant refusal that replayed in his mind in the years after. His mother had given up on the lofty dream they'd once shared and moved back to the United States. She'd taken heed of his father's parents' words. A child needed to have roots and over the next decade, she tried desperately and failed to provide any of that stability for him. Home was a place they could barely afford or a relative's generous handout. Any attempt he'd had to finish school like a regular child had been thwarted by the surprising amount of moves they'd had. He'd managed to gain his G.E.D. but he was already two years behind.

His twentieth birthday changed his entire life. While staying with his aunt in Arizona he met a young girl and as all first love stories go he fell deeply for her. Mia was the one person who seemed to ground him despite their brief time together. When she told him that she planned to move to New York, he didn't hesitate to follow. The two of them were happy for five years until one summer night changed everything for both of them. It's a memory that has never left him and the one that he'd come back to the most over the next three years.

With Mia absent, Andre had no anchor. Set adrift he began to explore life in an aftermath of the first love. He bounced from job to job and place to place, often saving enough for a ticket to another city without warning. The habits from his youth were the only comfort that he found. He knew that he couldn't outrun his problems but finding steady work in a recession became increasingly more difficult. So, two days after his 27th birthday, he reached out to the grandparents that he'd barely seen since his childhood. They invited him to stay for the winter with them in Italy and he took the opportunity without looking back.

The time in Italy shed some light on his paternal side of the family. He learned a little about the business that his father had run away from and decided that while it was a lucrative fallback, he didn't want to stay in Italy. He returned back to New York in the summer of 2016 with a fresh perspective and flush pockets. A little older, a little wiser, he felt like he was finally ready to make his own way.

• FULL NAME IS ANDREA - ITALIAN DEVIATION OF ANDREW. IT MEANS MANLY BUT DUE TO BULLYING, HE DROPPED THE A. NO ONE CALLS HIM BY HIS FULL NAME EXCEPT HIS MOTHER.

• SPEAKS A LIMITED AMOUNT OF SEVERAL LANGUAGES. ONLY FLUENT IN ENGLISH BUT HE CAN GET BY IN ITALIAN, SPANISH, AND FRENCH DUE TO HIS UPBRINGING.

• IS THE SON OF A TRAVELING ILLUSIONIST AND A CONTORTIONIST. HIS PEOPLE ARE CIRCUS PEOPLE AND HE'S NOT ASHAMED.

• GREW UP ON TRAINS ACROSS MANY COUNTRIES BUT DOESN'T CLAIM ANY AS HIS OWN. HIS OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORD IS IN RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA.

• LONGEST RELATIONSHIP LASTED FIVE YEARS. AFTER THAT, HE'S STRUGGLED TO MAINTAIN CONNECTION WITH ANYONE BEYOND THE PHYSICAL.

• HAS HAD A SLEW OF JOBS AND PREFERS THE THIRD SHIFT SINCE HE'S A NIGHT PERSON.

• LOVES ART IN ALL ITS FORMS. DRAWS AND TAKES PHOTOS IN HIS SPARE TIME AS PERSONAL HOBBIES.

• DESPITE COMPLETING HIS HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION LATE, ANDRE IS VERY INTELLIGENT.

• LOVES HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND THE OCCULT.

• HAS NO TATTOOS OR PETS.

andre fiorenza