Monthly Archives: June 2013

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An Unexpected Father’s Day Gift

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This is a guest post by Vaughan Carter. Vaughan has enjoyed a varied and successful career, first in legal academia, where he specialised in constitutional and human rights law and, more recently, as a senior civil servant in the Cayman Islands, working in the fields of education and human capital development; until last year when he resigned his position in order to fulfil a lifetime dream and return to full-time education.  Alongside his studies, Vaughan has also established his own consulting company – JURIS Consulting Limited – and together with his wife, they are proud parents of two young children.  For research, training and consultancy, Vaughan can be contacted at juris@candw.ky

Father’s Day – what is it really all about?  Not the shower head with the wireless speaker that the pre-Father’s Day edition of “What’s Hot” would have us believe – at least not in my house.  As I savoured the peace and tranquillity of my audibly unenhanced shower on Father’s Day last Sunday, it seemed as good a time as any to reflect on my responsibilities as a father.  At the same time, my mind inevitably turned to my father, our relationship and the important role he has played in my life.

“Son, you’ll earn your living with your head, rather than your hands” is the fatherly advice that I remember most from my childhood.  I always knew where it came from.  Straight from the heart, informed by a genuine desire for his son to have a better working life than his and indeed his father before him.  I duly obliged and ultimately went to University, studying law rather than entering the building trade, as every male member of my family had always done both before and since for that matter.  But was this the best advice for me?  And, more to the point for present purposes, is it in essence the sort of advice that I should now be relaying to my own children?

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A Real Tweet

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This afternoon … in fact, still ongoing as I write this post … my wife and I are hosting an end of school term party for our son, Ryan, and some of his friends.  He is off to boarding school in September so before everyone went global for the summer we thought we would have a last hurrah for him and the gang.  Have you ever had 20 kids aged 13-15 at your home for six hours?  Yeah, well, its noisy.  What did I do?  I took a 15 minute walk over to the pond to listen to a totally different ‘noise’.  Listen on.

Nature's Touch

At the end of the road in our subdivision is a small natural pond.  Around 5:30pm it seems that every bird comes out to celebrate the day, to pose, hear each other and to proudly be heard.  Its real life tweeting in a way.  I took my trusty Roland R-05 recorder with me and tried to grab some samples to give you an idea of the sound.  Now, it was a bit windy, I have never done this before, and the mic is not directional.  All these excuses taken into account, I would be honoured If you would take 1.5 minutes out of your day to turn up the volume, click the link below (Birdsong), close your eyes and pretend you are by a small pond in Grand Cayman.

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Unexpected Time

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This post is a complete departure from most others in that it is not my usual writing.  Instead, it is a pause.  A reflection on a moment.

Unexpected Time

Unexpected Time

Last week my wife, Christina, and I were invited to a reception for the newly formed Cayman YMCA.  Christina is a director of this outstanding organisation.  Among her many qualities, my wife is known for her organizational skills and for always being on time for events.  It was no surprise when we got there a few moments after 6pm that we were the first in attendance.  We often are.   Of course the caterers were still setting up, but that is not all that unusual.  However, around 10 minutes into our chat with the hostess I started to realise we were the first there not because we were early, but because we were really early.  On casually asking, we learned to our embarrassment that the event started at 7pm.  We were an hour early.  What to do?  The photo above is the answer.  It was taken during that unexpected time together.  We excused ourselves and stepped out to the terrace to take in the view.  Together we had 45 minutes to sit, talk and enjoy the most beautiful of sunsets.

Unexpected time was the perfect time for us that evening.  Sometimes we need that, don’t we?  Moments to unplug on one level and reconnect on another.  Have you had unexpected time lately, and did you use it wisely?

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Its Time To Be Tested

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My kids are always a source of inspiration for me in my life and, more specific to this blog, my writing. I have pages in my journal with blog post ideas. However, the best posts always seem to come out of the answers to my question, “Hey kids, what should I write about this week?” This week, as always, the question they suggested surprised me. However, what really got me thinking were their answers. Read on.

Tired schoolboy

“Write about our tests, dad,” was their immediate answer. On my end I’m thinking, really? What could be so interesting about a test? I hated them frankly. I was what you would call, a poor test taker. In hindsight I think that was a guidance counsellor euphemism for ‘David is a lazy procrastinator who waited too late to cram for his exams’. But, enough about me. I had been thrown an idea by the kids. To expand on it I did what I have learned to do when presented with a thought that at first seems unworthy. I asked a few questions.

“So,” I asked. “What is it about tests that you want me to know about?” I got two wonderful gems in reply.