#clark thomas

[paperclipping4losers]

i love you art focused on the perseverance of art and love through the apocalypse and the insistence on community and care even in unimaginably awful situations. i love you art focused on the beautiful and enduring nature of theatre and music and their ability to bring people together. i love you art about the unifying nature of hope and perseverance. i love you art about the soft apocalypse, the one that isn't mccarthy-esque, the one that isn't infested with cannibals and dark skies and starvation and bloodlust. i love you art about an apocalypse of overgrown civilization, of plants overtaking train tracks and spilling out of broken windows. i love you art about found family, i love you found family that cares about each other and loves each other and will protect each other even if they don't like each other, even if they can't stand each other. i love you art about friendship, about holding your best friend's hand through the apocalypse and I wish this wasn't happening, but I'm glad it's happening with you. i love you art about art, art that loves art, art that loves artists. i love you art about grief- grief after death and divorce and separation and getting lost and not doing the right thing. i love you art about wishing you had known your friends when you were little, when things were still good, when you weren't hurt yet. i love you art about mourning people you never knew, or met, or even heard of. i love you art about trauma that you can't heal from but that you can learn to live with. i love you art about doing what you can for the people you love. i love you art about sacrifice and decisions and impossible choices. i love you art about being so full of love at the end of the world.

[dance-world]

Harrison Dowzell - Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures - photo by Clark Thomas

[firstpersondad]

When Nature Calls

Clark and I went with Jenna to a quick photo shoot for her best friend's daughter yesterday. It was outside at this pretty church on a hill. A lot of farm land around it. Clark was great, well behaved, and he even helped Jenna out by being silly and making Lizzy laugh. We played a little bit as well. Throwing rocks and running around. Typical kid stuff.

About when Jenna was almost finished, Clark tells me he has to go pee pee. Being outside and playing (i.e. distracted), just him telling me was a huge accomplishment. He's still figuring that out but he's doing really well. So I take him over to a little area with some privacy. He does great peeing outside for the first time. Next thing I know, he says he has to go poo poo. Okay...

Only problem with this is that we were outside and the church was locked. I asked him if he could hold it but I could tell he definitely couldn't. Realizing we were going to have to do this outside too, I do what any good father does by telling him to squat. It took him a moment to figure it out with my help, holding him up of course, but he did it with ease.

I know this may be too much information. I don't care. I was proud and, the best thing was, he didn't make an accident.

[firstpersondad]

What's in a Name

Clark occasionally calls Jenna and I by our first names. Sometimes he'll even call us "Honey." I have no issue with this at all. It's pretty funny to hear him say "Where's Jenna going?" or "Here's your phone, honey." Honestly, I have no issue with him calling me Joshua when he's older. Some find it odd but what matters most is that he knows I am his father and I know he's my son. Clark's my buddy, my baby boy, my son. Names are just names but relationships are what truly matters.