Greetings From Maryland

Hi there! I'm a 36 year old female who currently resides in a single-wide 64' x 14' mobile home with 6 cats (more on them later). I've been here for 4 years and have hated every second of it.
I've been struggling the past two years to maintain the mortgage, ground rent and all my other bills on a $13.50/ hr job. It wasn't working. At this point I have not paid the mortgage in 8 months and I am 3 months behind on the ground rent. It got to a point where the ground rent was the ONLY thing I found myself paying and as my stress levels rose every other aspect of my life started suffering including my health.

Mid-July of this year (2011) I was having appetite and sleep issues. I lost 14 pounds in 10 days and I just looked haggard. One Tuesday morning I passed out while at work and slammed my head into a counter. This set of a whirlwind of events which have lead me to some interesting life decisions.

I was diagnosed with Acute Stress Disorder (combat stress). Something tells me that when you aren't in the military and are diagnosed with combat stress just from trying to live your life - your life has something wrong. I was put on medication that made me feel like I was going crazy when really the only crazy thing about my life was that I was trying to live it in a way that wasn't comfortable for me but was what I was brought up to think I should want.

Oh yeah, while I was under doctor's care I was fired from my job.

Meanwhile, relations with my mother (my only true living relative) are strained because her husband of many years decided in April that coming on to me would be a good idea. After telling my mother about the incident she has made a choice to stick by him so she and I are not on speaking terms. Why should I have that sort of poison in my life just because she's my mother? Blood or not respect and caring for your child, let alone your own self-respect should come first.

I am obviously losing my house and apartment prices are insanity. Plus, I have 6 cats (again, more on them later) no one is going to want to rent to me. My solution is RV living but as I did more research I find a better option is to live in a large van or box truck. With the cats.

I'm currently doing much research and planning. I'm paring down my belongings and making plans to sell almost everything including my current vehicle to finance me getting into a livable vehicle. I'm reaching out to the wandering community to make ties and connections. So far they have been an absolute blessing. Where else can you choose a completely new lifestyle and have people who are traditionally seen as loners so willing to help YOU thrive in YOUR life. Isn't this a much better concept than competing for a position in life?

I'm excited about this and I think (as tacky as it sounds) that it will give me a chance to find out who I am. I already know I can survive I just want to be able to do more than just survive.

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