The Cat Traveler

This blog is going to be dedicated to my Mano. The story of her began in 2010 when I saw her walking towards me on the sidewalk. Even though I tried to take her home with me right away, seeing no collar, but she ran off. The next night I walked outside my front door & there she was sitting on the concrete steps leading to the car port. She has been with me for the better part of 7 years. Mano hates car rides but I've taken her all the way to Baltimore, Ft. Worth, & Austin. She got kinda anxious on the way back from Baltimore but she does okay going to Ft. Worth & Austin. Well, she's really going to hate me later on this year. In shaa Allah, I'm going to Morocco in September, & yup, she's coming with me. And no, I'm not talking about in the luggage department, I'm going to get her registered as an Emotional Service Animal so that the airline will permit her in the cabin with me. Travelling is hard enough on me, I imagine I will have to take her to the vet to get her some kind of tranquilizer. The hardest parts for me is the take off & landings, once we get in the air I'm fine, except for trying to get my ears to pop. I really feel bad for putting her through it but right now I don't see another way around it. She's not only my responsibility, she's my fur baby,  besides there's no one to leave her with. Once we arrive she'll pout for a while until she gets familiar with the place & gets hungry. The longest part of the journey will be hard for her because she will start getting anxious & want to move around. I'll bring her bed with me so she can at least either lie on my lap or in between my feet once we get settled in. In honor of my poor baby I'm going to name my traveling blog The Cat Traveler, or should it be The Travelling Cat? My first entry will be the flight to Morocco. 
I can tell you 1 thing, I won't be wearing hijab to board my flights. It's bad enough I have a Muslim name. Trump is keeping everyone out with a Muslim name American or not. That's why in addition to getting Mano medicine, a rabies shot, & traveling gear I will have to make sure my non-profit is registered. Since I'm planning on staying until the middle of January I'm going to try to arrange to teach English while I'm there. Hamdullah, I'll have my disability check still coming but I still have to pay bills at home while I'm gone. 
When I come back home in January I'll register for school. I'm going to study Creative Writing & Photography. I'm hoping I can find a program that will pay for everything. I would like to be a Travel Writer/Photography, that way I'm not with anyone person for long periods of time, less likely I'll piss them off. I love traveling, the best are road trips where you can stop along the way, it's a different adventure every time. 
That's how I try to treat life, as an adventure. Unfortunately when you're poor there's limited opportunities for adventures. I have to have the kind of opportunity to stay home & work if I feel like it or pick an adventure to go on. We're the sum of our experiences, my experience thus far has led me to the conclusion that I don't need to be around people on a continuous basis & I feel better when I write. It helps me work out all the thoughts rattling around my brain, I've been writing off & on since I was a teenager, but I think it's time to get that sheepskin. 
I'm going to go ask Social Security for 100% disability. I know this couldn't come at a worse time with Trump being in office but I have faith that he won't be there for long. I've decided to continue driving for Uber/Lyft because if I get a normal job they'll cut off my state benefits. The state picks up the tab for my Medicare, if I lose that I'm in trouble. I know it's tearing up my car but I really don't have a choice. My disability check is just enough to get by, only because from now on I'll be splitting the bills with my cousin. The whole reason I'm moving is because I can't afford to live alone. My lights & internet were getting cut off all the time, there were days I was hungry. 
My plan is to go back to Morocco, come back to go to school, then go back to Morocco every summer from then on. Meanwhile in New Mexico I'll get involved with local politics, a masjid, the local domestic violence shelter, work, & go to school. I'm even trying to get signed up to put an advertising wrap on my car. I'm going to need a lot of money to go to Morocco even though I found really cheap tickets. 
I need to be in a place where I can afford not to work if I don't want to but can still save up some money for a few months to do something adventurous. I want to get back into camping & hiking again. I need to interact with the world on my own terms instead of being confined to social norms. I'm not normal, I have Boderline Personality Disorder, it affects my ability to have "normal" relationships. The more that I'm forced to interact with the same people on a continuous basis the more likely I'll do or say something to piss them off. I don't mean to do it, it's just I start having feelings of being overwhelmed then I lash out irrationally. I try to control it by backing away from the people or situations that make me feel that way but bosses don't understand when you call & say you can't come to work because you don't "feel" well repeatedly. People in my life have been guilty of pushing my limits, I've lost many important relationships in my life. It's as if the noise of other peoples' lives gets to me & I have to back off for a while, but some people push, especially employers.