Landlady should mind her own business!

Dear Pastor,

I am 19 years old and I have a boyfriend. He is 32 years old. He is working and he is sending me to school and we are living together. When people see us together they ask him if I am his daughter, and he always say yes. Before I started to live with him and I visited him, he told his landlady that I am his daughter. He lives on one side of the house and the lady lives on the big side, so when I started to live with him the woman was confused because it's one room with one bed, a kitchen and a bathroom.

notice to leave

One day she called me and asked me how come I am sleeping with my father. I told her that although we are on the same bed we are not doing anything. The lady said, "So you say". When he came home I told him. He said he would talk to her, but the next day the lady gave him notice to leave and called him a worthless man because he is sleeping with his daughter. He had to tell the lady the truth and called me to confirm what he was saying. She questioned me before him and told him that she would withdraw the notice, but she doesn't like that type of life in her house because I am a little girl. Pastor, I am not a little girl.

My father did not support me and my mother has other children, and if I did not meet this man I wouldn't be going to school. I had three different guys I used to fool around with and all they wanted was sex, and they never helped me. This man is helping me, so the landlady should mind her own business and leave us alone. My boyfriend has never owed her rent. My body is small but I am an adult, and this man treats me well. I don't need anything. When I don't do my homework he gets very upset. He doesn't have any children. I would like to get pregnant two years from now.

V.C

Dear V.C.,

The landlady was quite correct in asking you about your status. You say that you are small so that means that you do not look your age, so to speak, and she also observed the way your boyfriend and you conducted yourself. It did not appear to her at all that it was a father and daughter relationship. And when you told the landlady that although this man and you were sleeping on the same bed, both of you were not having sex, she refused to believe what you were saying because she knew better.

Perhaps, she heard what you didn't think she wasn't hearing and observed what you didn't think she was seeing. However, I am glad that your man was able to explain himself to her and she allowed him to continue as tenant. She hasn't sanctioned that type of relationship. Some people would say that she has overstepped her bounds, but it is her house and she has a right to say what type of tenants she wants in her house.

I hope that you would change your attitude towards this landlady, and I hope that your man will stop telling people that you are his daughter because he is making it bad for himself. And I also trust that you would not waste time in school. If you waste time you are wasting the man's money. I hope that you study hard and pursue a career.

Pastor