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Split Yet Green

Apparently you cannot be green and divorced at the same time and there is obviously merit in that argument. My neighbor downstairs is a single dad who keeps his apartment so tidy that management of the property would likely pay him to use it as a model to show prospective renters.

Nothing looks like its ever been used. The books and CDs are lined up so carefully that you hesitate to venture near for fear of disturbing their order. Having been neighbors for three years now, my guess is it would take an act of God to fluster him or put his house in any state of disarray. The perfection is almost repelling. I'm not surprised that I have never seen any visitors at his place in all this time - it would intimidate me to sit on his couch.

When his little girl comes to spend a weekend, his house is the favored watering hole for a bunch of neighborhood kids including J at times. Unlike us adults who step even on his doormat gingerly, they don't think twice before trashing the place. But the minute they are gone, the apartment is back to looking picture perfect. Us moms wonder how he does it. I am guessing a lot of cleaning supplies are involved in this rapid recovery from the mess and chaos that half a dozen kids must necessarily leave in their wake.

His lost green quotient on account of his split marital status and obsessive compulsive cleanliness is probably more than made up by the Toyota Prius he drives.
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