Paul was a security guard, hired in by the hotel, who fell in love with our antics at Scotiacon - we were much better than corporate or other boring guests he had to deal with.
In my frontdesk/operations capacity, I spoke to him every day of the event, handled handover and sated his curiosity (and took his suggestions of music).
He was always happy to see us, be in the mix and just became one of the team. We loved Paul. Nothing was ever a challenge, and he was invaluable during the TERF concerns and others this year.
We (the team behind the event) heard his mother had cancer, and then died soon after. He lost his job as a result of taking her to treatment.
We told our community, who also loved him, and we raised enough money for the funeral costs and then some, which was an incredible thing to be a part of.
2 months later in August this year, we got the worst news - Paul had unexpectedly died. Distressing.
Every so often now I think about his approach to our event, the completely alien situation he walked into during his normal paying job and the way he embraced us, year on year with such joy.
I'll miss him, his cheeky grin and his adopted love for a bunch of absolute weirdos in stupid carpets. A lot of our community will miss him to, and have commented as such.
Don't hide what's happening in your head from yourself or others, share your burdens, your joys and remember that your impact on others is always greater than you think it is.
