Carla Wight's courtship with David Wight, Associate President BP Amoco Energy, started three years ago in April 1997, the couple married in April 1998 and their baby Nicholas was born a few weeks shy of April 2000, on March 20.
The courtship between Carla, a Tax Consultant with Ernst & Young, Chicago, and this high-powered, corporate executive, can only be described as "different."
Carla first met her husband ten years ago in Cairo, Egypt. "Amoco was one of my clients and I had an one hour meeting with him about tax consulting work for Amoco. I never saw him again for seven years. Then I came down here to do some more tax consulting, both of us remembered meeting each other in Cairo, Egypt , started dating and everything happened", or as my four year old grandson says about pokemon "it evolved."
But, laughs Carla, "the actual first date was arranged by David's secretary who asked me out on that first date. He wanted to ask me but did not want to put me in a position where I had to say yes, so the secretary asked on his behalf: would you like to go out with Mr Wight. He did not have the nerve to ask me out."
Their second drink was in the Chicago Airport. "I was on my way to Bucu Azi (Not sure about spelling of that country will check it) to work, he was coming to headquarters in Chicago to do some work for Amoco, I was going to do some tax consulting. We only had an hour or so for a quick drink. So then we started getting a little more normal. He would go to Chicago, and I came down for a couple of trips before we decided we were going to make this permanent."
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Carla lived in Chicago for years, went to Tokyo Japan for a couple of years, back to Chicago and now Trinidad. She has an Accounting degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Masters in Taxation from Depaul University, Chicago.
This very pleasant lady has travelled all over the world, through South America, the Caribbean and Asia, servicing her company's clients in the field which she loves dearly "tax" , and still continues her job from Trinidad since as she says "technology is amazing so you can pretty much work anywhere."
The Wights love Trinidad, and why not, nine months pregant, Carla played mas with Minshall "his was the only costume that would fit me. I had a very easy pregnancy, exercised throughout, the baby should have been born on Ash Wednesday, but I was two weeks overdue, we had a great time."
In collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, Carla started an organisation called HOME - Helping Others By Mutual Effort, to raise funds which are then turned over to Habitat and used to build homes for needy families in Trinidad.
With a committee of Penny Elias, Jan Ryan, Sheila Tucker, Mona Khan and Julia Ann July, $120,000 was raised at a December tea. "We gave the money to Habitat and with their matching funds twelve houses will be built mostly in Mayaro this time but as we progress it can be anywhere in Trinidad."
Soon a workday is to be organised with the community, members of BP Amoco and Royal Bank to actually go out and work on building homes in Mayaro: "We will get some men to help as we would like to see the whole process through. We will not be able to construct a house but can put up a dry wall."
And as Carla takes care of six week old Nicholas, the next fund raiser, a Mexican Fiesta probably in September, is being planned. "It's going to be like an all inclusive fete, dinner, drinks, Mexican entertainment, with the Ambassador helping us to organise and get some Mexican food brought in from Mexico."
Carla runs around the savannah, works out at Club Savannah and plays a little golf, and does a lot of entertaining as the wife of BP Amoco's chief executive, but it has not been difficult for her as "David had such good friends down here when I came it was very easy to get into things, everyone took me in as if I had always lived here which was very nice."
"You are wonderful people" says Carla of Trinidadians "I love it here and wish I could stay. I cannot imagine what else you would miss here. There is great social environment, people like to party and get together. You do have to be very careful, but you have to take the good with the bad. The weather here is perfect. It is a wonderful island" which Carla should know because she has been coming here since 1988 "before David actually came here, to do some work for BP Amoco."
"It's amazing how things had changed" says Carla Wight, when she thinks back to the big differences on returning in 1997 from her first visit in 1988.