Andrew Beckett, born Andrew Morten, had a childhood that he doesn't like talking about. It was a childhood where perfection was expected. His parents were the kind of people to be extremely strict and critical about every single aspect of his life, and even of the lives of the people around them. It was the sort of childhood, and they were the sort of parents, that made Andrew constantly feel like he wasn't good enough. All through his elementary, middle school, and high school years, Andrew suffered through low self esteem. He became extremely shy and introverted, and he didn't have that many friends. Even if he did end up having a friend, chances were his parents would forbid him to talk to them since they would never live up to their standards. It was because of this life that he excelled academically. He always earned A's, and at least he could please his family that way.
It was the need and desire to get away from such an oppressive upbringing that made Andrew choose to go to a university many states away from South Carolina. In one of those close your eyes and point at a map moments, he chose to go to school in Baltimore, Maryland. Picking the University of Baltimore, he went there to earn his Bachelor of Science in
Entrepreneurship. It was during these years at college that Andrew finally started to learn more about who he was, including his sexuality. More free than he ever had been growing up, he was able to explore life in his own terms. Still shy and introverted, he focused more on his academic life than his social life, but he did manage to get out of his shell enough to date around. Still, keeping his parents in mind, he picked the wrong kind of guys to date. He often chose the guys who would walk all over him, the guys who wouldn't treat him as well as he should have been treated.
After earning his degree, he decided to continue his studies at UoB, and was accepted into their MBA Entrepreneurship program. Naturally, more self growth happened while earning his masters degree, and he kept up his track record of earning very high academic grades. But it wasn't until a few months after he had graduated that his life changed for good, and in a very incredible way.
It was during
Male 40th birthday part on November 27th, 2002 when Andrew met his future husband. The catch was, he was there with a date, and
Male was so much older than him that Andrew never entertained the idea of having a relationship with this man. Still,
Male must have seen something in him, because the older man asked Andrew for his number under the guise of writing a piece on MBA graduates. Of course Andrew accepted. It didn't take long for
Male to contact him, and what flourished between them was a friendship that took over a year, and one relationship in Andrew's life, to flourish. It was at the end of that eight month long relationship when something finally happened between Andrew and
Male. Once Andrew admitted to breaking up with his boyfriend to
Male, the older man made his move and as they say... the rest is history.
Already knowing each other well enough to know their strengths, weaknesses, and passions, the two made a very risky move and decided to open up a business together. With
Male's love of books and baking, and with Andrews's business savvy,
Grounds for Thought, a cafe/bookstore, was created, officially opening in April of 2004.
It wasn't long after Grounds for Thought opened, and after the two had said "I love you" to each other, that Andrew decided maybe it was time for
Male to meet his parents. It wasn't an easy decision for him, and it was one met with much hesitation, which
Male would soon understand why. The couple had only just walked through the door when the harassment, belittlement, and berating started. After an episode that lasted more than 30 minutes, his parents kicked the two out of their house, telling their son they had disowned him. Completely humiliated and once more knocked down, Andrew was sure
Male would want to break up with him. Instead of that happening,
Male asked him to move in with him. It was the one thing that made the next couple of weeks of his entire family, immediate and distant, disowning him one by one more bearable.
A few years after being together, the two decided that they wanted to start a family together. After searching around, they found a surrogate for the future children, and they found out in October of 2008 that their surrogate was expecting twins. Now knowing they were going to have a family, the two decided to marry in Cape Cod on December 31st, 2008, wanting a ceremony that would last into the New Year's, both thinking that bringing in the New Year while celebrating their marriage to each other would be the most incredible thing ever. Considering his entire family had disowned him, he used this opportunity to shed his birth last name. Happily and proudly he became Andrew Beckett. Never again will Morten enter his vocabulary.
On May 22nd, 2009, Parker and Holden were born. Andrew's main goal has always been, and always will be, to provide the love and acceptance to his children that he felt like he never had in his own childhood, and he feels like that is something that he's managed to accomplish with
Male.
Once a boy who had very low self esteem, and was introverted to the point of being an extremely shy loner, it has been through his relationship with
Male, the success of his business, and the love and acceptance of his husband's family that had changed Andrew into a man who isn't so down on himself. Gone are the days of extremely low self confidence, and while he's still shy, he's not as shy as he used to be. If he had to credit one person for his life, he would give all of it to his husband.
In a nutshell, Andrew is a shy man who counts his lucky stars every single day. He believes in kindness, and it's because of
Male and his family and business that he now believes that glass is always half full. He may still have his moments of self doubt, because a poor childhood never really leaves someone, but he tends to be a very happy person these days. He avoids arguments, and he believes in trying to help other people out. He does his best to maintain good working relationships with all the other local businesses in Baltimore, and he considers himself philanthropic. All in all, he considers himself a good person, which is an extremely big step from how he used to think of himself.
