Bill Crane
I stayed with Anja on an Air B&B in May and June of 2016 as she would rent out the downstairs master bedroom on the program. She was out of work from the layoffs and trying to make money. The first night I was there I needed to unwind to start my work there the next day and ask Anja and Soule if we could all go out to eat. "I was buying right". LOL So at the end when the place was packed I said OK but now will you let me walk out with each of you under an arm to make everybody think two beautiful women are with me and they liked the prank and went right along with it. So I knew then Anja was a sport that could hold her own and play at any level she wanted to because she had that sense of confident humor. We were all comfortable together there from the first day I moved in, and without even too much needing be said we just came and went all doing whatever we were busy with. I realized how hard she was struggling when she politely asked me to keep the A/C above 75 degrees. I was used to "Hotel Freezeouts"... The thermostat at Anja's house was right outside that bedroom I stayed in and all I had to do was sneak a hand out of the door to adjust it. Every now and then I would turn it down to 70 at night and she would wake up and come downstairs and turn if back up before I knew it. It became a silent contest of wills... But I made up for it with a little extra money in the rent and surprisingly I soon became accustomed to the higher temps.. She was so industrious it just blew my mind her constantly looking for every way to make money in the slow time after being laid off/ and did everything from having Air B&B guests in her home, to garage sales, to even working on a food truck. I was only there about 6 weeks but I remember her coming in and joking about "smelling like the food truck" with her spirited bark for life. Then she was working UBER for a brief period and I would hear those stories too. I Never even met her before my stay with her but she made a mark because she was so friendly and trusting.. Too trusting I thought sometimes and I nagged her a little bit to start changing her keys after new people stayed on the AIr B&B but she just assumed everyone was as nice and honorable as she was I guess. A few times a week she would just take off out the door and go run 3 miles in the neighborhood to stay fit between soccer games. And the CONSTANT HEALTHY DIET "alkalining her body" as she called it eating foods with higher PH, and ALWAYS getting on to me for eating poor food. She was always positive and if there ever was cause to speak of something it was acknowledgement of he resilience and acceptance of whatever challenge... I was actually looking her up tonight just to recall her address to locate a fast food Mexican place that was near her house which I was telling someone about, and than I saw this online. Last time I talked to her, her career was turning back up and she was on the mend. I don't write on these EVER and maybe its because I only knew her 6 weeks and a few phone calls more over the years just chatting once every year or two I would call to catch up. She was on her own when I met her with just one that one other roomy she had in there seemed like a friend to her too. I can't imagine being put in the situation with the loss of the career Job and having to make it work out. She was tough. I just wanted to say she was a super nice and caring person. God may indeed snatch up the best ones.... I really cant believe she is gone...
