For the first few days of June, we scrambled to gather up our belongings and get them into storage. From there, we put in a lot of work researching and inquiring on finding a place to live. We’d already done that part weeks prior, but the place we originally chose wasn’t returning our calls.

The cats had different reactions to moving into a hotel room. Tilda hid for days. Belladonna didn’t want to leave her carrier at first. Once they settled in, they chose favorite spots. They both like to hide behind the curtains in the big windowsill. They like the vantage point on top of the cupboards, too.

We had a lot to bring. There was the cat food and litter, bowls, and litter box. There are also a lot of medications when you’re seriously sick. My partner also uses a CPAP machine, so we needed that and the distilled water and cleaning wipes for it. We brought the air filter, too, but thankfully the air has been much cleaner here than it was where we were living. Ryann is breathing a lot better now that he’s out of that environment.

We turned in our keys and signed ourselves off the lease on the 16th. That was a relief. It meant we could finally block the roommates who were escalating conflict.

The EBT SNAP program covered some food deliveries from Walmart. Some of the funds also went toward getting rides from a friend. Each load of laundry is $3 to wash, $3 to dry. The day I did two loads, I wandered the laundry room and listened to music. There isn’t much security and a big sign warned me that the establishment took no responsibility for stolen or damaged items.

The reason the paperwork has been so tedious is that we’re specifically moving into low-income accessible housing, and that requires additional verification through government compliance.

We were only supposed to be here for 11 days. It’s been 27. I’ve been extending our hotel stay a few days at a time because we don’t know exactly when we’ll be clear to move. We are so tired of being here, but at this point all we can do is wait.

We are almost to our goal! Please keep sharing the fundraiser: https://gofund.me/f394787f