Christopher Todd...

If you are not aware of our frustration with Christopher (Pher), please read back entries on the blog or just call me. I don't have the energy to retype it.

During his Junior year of high school, he proudly proclaimed that he wanted to experience homelessness. He wanted to experience the subcultures that he was confident exist in our country. He had always lived in a good home, had clothes, plenty of food and water. He always had the means to clean his body and his clothes. Todd and I thought it was a ridiculous idea for an adventure. Why would someone want to leave the safety and comfort of a home to experience the unknown danger of the streets? Well, that's just Pher. It's a social experiment, experience, encounter that he has been longing for.

Last summer, he began his first attempt at adventure. He packed up his bike and was going to ride to Bloomington, IN. He has friends that live in a house near IU's campus. Day 1 he got to Bluffton, IN (about 20 miles) and he pitched his tent in a field. Day 2 he sent a text and said he was just outside of Muncie (about 60 miles away). That's the story he gave me. He told his father that the blisters on his ass were so raw that he couldn't peddle any further and may need to call for evacuation.

So, doing what any good mother would do, I laughed until I almost wet myself. Then I got online and booked him a one-way bus ticket from Muncie, IN to Bloomington, IN. He could place the bike in the luggage stow under the bus. He had to get to the library at Ball State University to print his bus ticket. It was 10 am on one morning when I ordered it, and the bus didn't arrive until 6 am the next morning, but he was on a journey, right?

He hung out in Bloomington for a month or more. He made money playing the ukelele on corners for change. Remember the damn ukelele!? Ultimately he ended up moving back to Fort Wayne and back in to Zeke's parent's basement.

Please allow me to digress. I don't know if I've blogged this or not. Since graduation May 2010, he has been living in the basement of Zeke's parent's home. I'm thankful that they allow him to stay there. I'm frustrated that they don't make him pay rent. Paying rent = getting job = being a responsible adult.

This was adventure #1. It gave him enough of a taste to embark on adventure #2...