Part 3: 21-30years// SO MANY THINGS OMG OMG

Okay so this is where shit gets hard. Because I obviously remember a lot of stuff during this age. A lot of shit happened. I started learning how to deal with my trauma. I realized OH I have anxiety...OH I'm clinically depressed. I got my Bachelors of Fine Arts. I moved across the country. I moved across the world. I had 4-ish major relationships. I loved a lot of people. A lot of people didn't love me back. I was sexually harassed and sexually abused. I made a lot of friends and also lost some of the best ones I've ever had. I worked a lot of jobs. I became temporarily disabled because of a knee injury. I gained a lot of weight. I dealt with a lot of brain stuff. I traveled the world. I published a book. I took nude photos of myself. I shaved my head multiple times. 

And this is just a quick run through. I'm obviously going to go into more details, but be prepared. I may actually make a separate blog post about my relationships because I feel like it's needed. 

Look at me, I'm a babyyyyyyy! 

One of the biggest things that happened to me in my 20's was that I went out of the country with my best friend (Jera) for the first time ever. We were just 21 I believe and we decided on London. So we decided we were just going to book the hostel for the first few nights of our trip and then figure it out later where we would stay or what we would do. It ended up being one of the most amazing and weird trips I've ever taken. The hostel was amazing and it was like a Harry Potter scene no joke. We even went and saw HP in theaters. The hostel had a fox that lived outside of it and it would come up to you and ask for food. We sat outside one night and drank beers and fed it bits of food. Lol. We also went to SOHO and partied all night with people from our hostel. We slipped and fell in the street. We ate lots of desserts. We toured the whole city. We ate KFC in a stairwell. And we got lost one night taking the night bus. 
This trip ended up pushing me forward in life and I decided to enroll in school so within two weeks I had applied, been accepted to and enrolled in classes to start getting a BFA. 

I met so many great people during my Undergrad. I became friends with my professors. I took French class and Piano class. I wanted to learn everything. I got good grades. I ended up finishing with a double major Fine Art & Art History. And as you can see in the photos above, I was an overachiever--- with concentrating in three separate areas: Painting, Photography, and Papermaking. 

Oh and also one time I dressed as a zombie and took a pirogue down the bayou for a contest and we tipped over. lol

I traveled many places throughout my 20's. I went to NYC and met Sami and Tania for the first time ever. Who are still two of my dearest friends. 

I also traveled to South America (Chile), and France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and Austria during this time. I also traveled allll over the US visiting friends and meeting people and trying to figure out where I wanted to move. 

One of the first photos I ever took of Sarah, back in 2011. *vintage* Also one of my nearest and dearest friends in the whole world. 

Dawn and I were roommates and besties for a few years during college. We went to Paris together and took this photograph which is still to this day one of my favorites. 

Veronica, one of the few loves who will always be connected with me. 

Magic makers. 

My bestie Yvonne (lives in the NL who I will talk about again in part 4) and I meeting one of my major Drag idols- Sasha Velour in Amsterdam. 

One of the biggest influences in my life has been my Grandmother. She was always so kind and caring and I would always love to go visit her. I spent so many weekends at her house growing up on the farm. We would watch Soap Operas together and Daytime game shows. She even called into a shitty job I had and told them "Hi, I'm Amy Wisehart's grandmother and she will not be coming in tonight, or ever again. Thanks bye!" She got fake teeth at the age of 18. She got married while she was already pregnant with my mom. She was the toughest lady I ever knew, and I loved her dearly. She passed away during my 20's, and I still miss her SO much. (That's her tattooed on my arm. 

I got myself into my first *serious* relationship with someone I worked with, and it moved so fast and so fierce and he even proposed to me. Yeah, I was totally going to marry him. I loved him passionately and with my whole heart. But, unfortunately he was abusive. He was addicted to pain pills. He stole money from me. I paid for a trip to Europe for the both of us, all the while he was figuring out how to get his next fix. I was so distraught because I didn't want to leave him in need. So I tried to stay. I tried my hardest to help and be nurturing. But sometimes that just doesn't help an addict. Sometimes you become the scapegoat and it's not fair. So I moved out. He was extremely evil. He even burned one of the paintings from my Senior Show. (and posted photos of the painting burning online for me to see.)

I decided I needed to get out and away. I needed a new start. So, I took a trip to Portland to see if that was the place for me. Turns out it was. Six months later I was in Portland and starting a new life.

The week I arrived Portland i got on Tinder and my first date was the magical robot person named Joel. He was weird and quiet and strange. He was very particular about everything in his life and I had no idea how the hell I was going to fit into it. But I started therapy. I got on anti-depressants again and tried to just work on myself and then everything else would follow.

And it did. We had a beautiful two years together. He will always and forever be one of my best friends and the person I would trust with my life. Even now we chat with each other on the daily and we are constantly there for each other. Oh lawd, but we got on each others NERVES. and I definitely wanted to break up with him multiple times. hahahah

One of my major points in my life was hiking all the damn time. And being a fat person on the trail and not giving a fuck.

Pictured above is Aaron. We dated briefly for a few months while Joel was in China. He helped me to realize so much about myself and we spent a lot of beautiful moments in the wilderness in Oregon. (Still friends with this person too because he's a great hooman being).

Double Exposure Self Portrait Polaroid. Taken by me. 

I climbed mountains.

I built fires.

I enjoyed life. 

I met the love of my life.

I'll talk more about this in my Part 4, because there's so much more in depth stuff I can talk about here. But this person showed me the world. I made a rash decision and moved 4500 miles for him, as many of you know. 

And I don't regret one second of it. 
Hindsight is 20/20.
To Be Continued..... :P