Today I moved into my first stable housing since October 4th.
On that date I returned from a trip to visit a friend whom I had just learned had advanced cancer. My then roommate and close friend for two decades took the opportunity to declare that I had moved out. When I tried to come back I was shouted out with threats of calling the police and having the locks changed on me. The day before I left, I had explained why I was in such emotional distress by explaining the situation with my friend and my relationship with him. In the process I came out as bisexual. In hindsight this seems like the reason he acted so viciously towards me. I left my cats in his care while I was on my trip; he repeatedly threatened me with sending them to a pound (and then when I told him I had flagged them and he would be arrested if he tried it) or just releasing them outside. He dumped my possessions next to a dumpster and told me I had two hours to collect them. When I came for my cats he stuffed them into cardboard boxes and taped them shut with no air holes.
Since then I've been living in hotel rooms. I picked up a job as an amazon delivery driver. And even working full time only slowed down the rate at which my savings was getting eaten up. Finally I found this place, 30-60 minutes away from my work and willing to let me keep my cats. Because of the generosity of one of our comrades here "C" coming through with a couple very timely loans, I managed to keep my cats and keep from sleeping in my car all the way to now. I'm broke, in debt to multiple sources, but I managed to keep from being outside. And I managed to keep my family together, even if it's only cats at this point.
The story doesn't end here. I have a civil rights complaint that was accepted by the state's civil rights department. I'm going to bring a civil action against my old friend as soon as I have the money saved up for a lawyer. I'm going to finish studying for my certification and find a job in IT before/after I'm done with that. But the part of the story where my existential security is at question is now mainly over.
