The Maintenance Man and The Thief

14 years ago a little girl was born a thief. She stole her Daddy's heart and really didn't know it....
7 days later, this little girl who had her father's firy red hair and mother's sweet spirit was fighting for her life because her partially underdeveloped heart had major problems that prevented proper blood flow to the lower half of her body.

24 hours later she laid on an operating table with the skilled pediatric heart doctor, Dr. Bradley hovered over her working tirelessly on bad valves and replacing arteries that were no bigger than a no. 2 pencil lead.
After the surgery was over the small Thief's father and mother looked at her as she was sleeping on the recovery bed in Pediatric ICU with what seemed like hundreds of wires and tubes coming out of her body.

The Maintenance man and his dear wife watched as the little girl was laying on the bed and breathing with the help of a breathing machine.
He wanted nothing more than to pick her up and hold her tight and play with her beautiful red hair as she slept on his chest, but he knew it would be quite some time before that would happen.

The young thief was a strong little thing though...
When she finally opened her beautiful, blue eyes a wave of relief came over the long haired maintenance man and his sweet wife.
They felt like they had weathered a hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic ocean in a small John boat and beat the odds and came out alive.

But sweet victory would come with a price...

The next few years of the Thief's life would prove to be like walking on egg shells while toting an elephant.
Special diets, restrictive exercises and frequent trips to the heart specialist who gave her back her life were just parts of the daily routine that was "normal" for them.

Several years later, a trip to visit Dr. Bradley would not come with good news.

The echo machine had found several growths and other issues with the valves. So again, the thief was under the care of the skillful Dr. Bradley and his caring nurses.

And AGAIN the thief came out of the surgery with the fighting spirit her mother gave her.
That was roughly 10 years ago...
The Small thief has grown up to be a beautiful young lady that still causes the maintenance man to lose his breath.

Happy Birthday Gracie.
I love you with all my heart.

The Maintenance Man and his wife.