Picked up a letter of reference from my landlady last night, and it’s quite the glowing review. She only stops short of saying I always wash behind my ears, and have been known to perform minor miracles. Makes me wonder if she wants to be rid of me.

My landlady is a very… special person. I can easily say I’ve never met anyone who was more of a control freak. This is good, only in some ways.

When I moved in, she gave me the address of the store from which I was to buy my washer and dryer. Because you have to understand, other places might have bugs and I might bring them in. Whenever she comes to fix something, she cleans one thing or another. Last time I saw that she had taken the empty plastic bottles from behind the trash, rinced them and placed them in the recycling bin. The cleaner bottles under my kitchen sink were all nicely aligned too, and the plastic bags nicely stacked. Thank God she doesn’t live in my building.

When I killed the fridge this summer, she came to take it to the dump, and lectured me about how there were still things left in it. By “things” she meant those pieces of dry onion peels in the bottom of the veggie drawer. The thing was going to the dump!

My landlady doesn’t use or eat anything that comes from any animals, and practices voluntary simplicity (i.e. if she buys a shirt, she gets rid of one). She toured Montana and California to find an appropriately-bio farm that could grow her beans for her. Every year, the farms she has selected send her a year’s supply of her beans.

On the other hand, the house is in top shape, she constantly offers to make improvements and renovations, and whenever anything breaks, it’s replaced within 48 hours. Also, I was curious (if not dubious) about her eating lifestyle, so she had me over for dinner a few times, and I must own that it was delicious. I’d doubt that she’s really getting everything she needs nutritionally, were it not for the fact that at 65, she looks like a hip, healthy late-forties woman.

People often have the qualities that come from their flaws, and the flaws that come with their qualities. I try to remember that whenever I have the impulse of judging someone.