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Craig Shoemaker
Conquering Fatherhood with Laughter By Donna Smith
Shoemaker feels growing up without a father has made him strive to be a better father himself – and a better person. He gives to Justin all the things he feels are missing in his life. "He's never going to be in therapy talking about my father didn't hug me or didn't listen to me or wasn't there for me," he says. "Basically, he's probably going to be in therapy saying he wouldn't stop hugging me or kissing me. He gets all of the things that I didn't get. He gets the protection and the care and all of those things, which came about in the one-man show as well. I kind of had a lot of self-discovery in writing the one-man show. He's just elicited a lot of changes in me."
One of the changes Shoemaker discovered was that the world didn't revolve around just him anymore. "In the single world I kind of lived selfishly," he says. "It's all about me – and it can't be all about me anymore." Shoemaker admits he reaps the benefits of giving his all to someone. "I get the benefits of the laughter in return, and just the joy that we all experience together is something that I've never really experienced before," he says. "You don't experience that at a single's bar."
Before making any plans, Shoemaker considers Carolyn and Justin, and family time always takes top priority. "If I have a second of free time, that's the top priority," he says. "Other stuff comes in second and third. I just think it's prioritizing, aking sure that family time is found."