Annulments – A Father-Daughter Activity
Something about this situation seems ironic. In my spare time, I moonlight as a judge-ponens for another Tribunal. This means that after the other judges and I have reviewed a particular case and counted the votes, I compose the sentence, explaining why we ruled either in the affirmative or in the negative. With the advent of email attachments, air mail and internet encryption technology, the process has quickened quite a bit. Also, this brings in some extra cash to pay bills and helps this particular tribunal to clear up their backlog so that people can get on with their lives. More strangely, however, is that fact that sentencing cases has become a great opportunity for me to spend some productive and quality time with my daughter. See, I cannot recruit my wife, because of confidentiality, however, at two years of age, my daughter is just perfect for the task. Once I’m done with a page of the acts, I give it to my daughter, who then tears it to shreds and awaits my inspection. When enough pieces are built up, she will then prod me until I tell her put them in the garbage, at which point she carries them over to the trash can. She enjoys doing this, and got really angry tonight when my wife tried to help her pick up a piece she had dropped on her way over to the trash can. Sigh. I never thought that such a dreary activity would turn into a family affair, but I’m grateful for the help.