60 in 60 #6 Paul

 60 in 60. #6 Paul

I am reflecting on the last 60 years, and writing 60 blog posts in 60 days. 30 about people and 30 about events and experiences.

 

Our fourth child wasn’t planned but I thank God that Paul Levi Ablett Holt was born on November 21 1997. (He is named after my best mate Paul Frederickson).  He was such a blessing, a sweet natured little boy who endeared himself to everyone wherever he went. Sophie and Paul bonded instantly. We moved to Busselton when he was 6 so he had the added bonus of growing up in a beautiful seaside town with a great community and making heaps of friends at Cornerstone Christian College. Pretty early on I dubbed him Sport Boy because he loved sport. Any sports, all sports, he loved playing them and watching them. I have a treasured photo of him cuddling me after the Carine HS football team won the Smarter Than Smoking Cup grand final against the previously unbeaten Clontarf College. (I was the coach).

Paulie loved soccer and I coached his team for several seasons when he played for Cornerstone. Everywhere he went he met people and made friends. I was constantly amazed as he recounted stories of who he knew, who they played for or what school they went to or where he had met them. He was twice selected to represent the SW region in a week-long country week soccer tournament in Perth and this expanded his network of friends and acquaintances even further. 

I have two outstanding memories from this time. We had decided to move to Victoria for family reasons in 2010. Just before we moved Cornerstone reached the grand final which was played at Margaret River. Paulie and the team played brilliantly and won the game. The celebrations of players, parents and coach were a wonderful finale after five years of playing together and I hugged him with tears after the game before racing up to Perth for my niece’s wedding. The following week Paul went to Perth for the country week tournament with about 70 kids across a range of age groups. On the Friday evening I went to pick him up upon the team’s return. It took him half an hour to get from the bus to the car because so many kids wanted to say goodbye to him. He was smothered in hugs, handshakes and fond farewells from boys, girls, coaches and parents across every team. It was amazing to see how well-liked and popular he was. 

The move to Victoria wasn’t so smooth for him. The local school was rough and he was bullied, prompting us to take on home schooling for a term. When I got home from work after the first day I asked him “How was school?”. He replied, “it was good but the new girl talks a lot”. He then enrolled at a school in Geelong which was a little better before he caught us in a moment of weakness and convinced us to let him go to SEDA, a sports based school with a surfing program! After a year he opted out and started a horticulture course at TAFE.

While formal schooling didn’t work for him, Paul proved very adept at learning. First he taught himself to play guitar. Then he started learning Hawaiian and how to play the ukulele.

He met some young guys in Melbourne and came home one day and asked if he could move up there to live in a shed in their backyard! We thought he might last a few weeks but he proved more resilient than that and over the next couple of years he lived with mates in share houses and hitched his way around the country, supporting himself by busking and scrounging.

He met a girl and travelled with her for a while. In preparation for a trip to Bosnia and Germany with her and a group of friends he taught himself Bosnian! which made him an instant hit with her Bosnian relatives. 

To say he is resourceful is an under-statement. He can live on very little, he makes friends wherever he is and he has talents and skills that help him survive and thrive. He is clever and personable, a risk-taker, a thinker, a musician and a poet. Paul is a great mimic, he used to have us in stitches imitating Frank Woodley and Steve Irwin. 

Last year he started working as a dishwasher at The Goose restaurant overlooking the jetty in Geographe Bay. Within a couple of weeks they had offered him an apprenticeship to train as a chef. He was going really well and enjoying learning to cook when disaster struck and the restaurant burnt down! He has since picked up work cooking in a burger van and is keen to complete his apprenticeship when The Goose reopens. 

I loved Paulie as a cute little boy, and I love the young man he has become. I admire his self-taught skills, his inquiring mind, his resilience and adaptability, his self-confidence and his willingness to take on a challenge.