On my thirtieth birthday (27th January 1981), Thankamony asked me to close my eyes for a surprise gift. When I closed my eyes, she moved towards me and asked me to touch her belly and when I did it, she whispered in my ears 'you are going to be a daddy'. The joy and happiness I had experienced with that unexpected gift was priceless and beautiful. We had put our faith in God and prayed for the smooth coming of the baby. We had enjoyed every stage of her pregnancy, a miraculous time when she experienced the kick and squirm of the baby inside. The experience of the baby moving, and the development of the size of the stomach was an exhilarating experience for Thankamony and gave me excitement. We got a lot of support and advice from my sister Kochu and had volunteered to take the delivery of the child. So when it was time for her delivery, we had moved to my sister's house in Itam and Thankamony was admitted at Anua Hospital, Uyo, close to Itam on 31st August 1981 morning. When she was in labor, she was thrilled ignoring the excruciating pain. There was a Polish doctor inside the labor room, so was my sister with few Nigerian nurses. I was on the verandah of the room, walking and praying for the smooth delivery. It was 8.25 pm, and suddenly I heard the very first cry of the baby followed by the thunderous applause from the nurses welcoming the baby. Soon my sister appeared at the door with a tiny amazing creature in swaddling clothes and announced 'it's a baby girl'. The baby was cute and adorable, sweet and lovely and I touched her tiny fingers and lips and kissed her. It is hard to explain my feeling, but it was the happiest moment in my life. We called her Seany (means God is gracious).

Seany was christened on the 15th of September by Fr. Dolan an Irish priest. Raju and Kochu officiated as the godfather and the godmother. We returned to Mary Knoll to continue our work. But for us, life had changed as our lives revolved around the child. When she was four years old, she was admitted to Mater-Dei catholic nursery school. In 1986 I was appointed as the Vice Principal of the school, a great honor and responsibility. Mary Knoll was not only the premium institution in the state, but also wielded a lot of political power. Because of its proximity to power, Mary Knoll had frequent changes of Principals as it was a political appointment. The other Principals I worked with were Mr. Arop, Mr. Lawrence Neji, Mr. Adeshi, and Mr. Malaki Agi. To serve as a Vice Principal under these brilliant people, was a great job and I could do it magnificently.

Nigeria had a troubled history of elections and coups. The Nigerian-Biafra civil war had brought lot of mistrust between the Muslim dominated northerners and Christian dominated southerners. The first military coup was launched by Maj. Gen. Ironsi in 1966, followed by Lt. Gen. Gowon, then by Gen. Murtala Mohammad. When Gen. Murtala was assassinated in 1976, Gen. Obasanjo took over the power. Elections were held in 1979 and Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the civilian president. He was re-elected in 1983, but was overthrown in a bloodless military coup by Gen. Buhari. In 1983 another military coup puts Gen. Babangida in power. These military coups never affected the lives of common man in Ogoja or Cross River state, except that some shops were looted. Two of my colleagues at Mary Knoll, Mr. Mark Ukpo became a senator at the national assembly and Mr. Ojugbo became a member of the state legislative assembly in the 1983 general election.