This is an IHeart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history.

And today we have on one of our regularly featured guests, and that's Stephen Rossiniak.

Many of his pieces have been published in the great chicken soup for the soul books.

This one he wrote during the time his daughter Tracy was a high school gymnast.

Here's Stephen.

She didn't make a sound.

You have a daughter, the doctor announced, before whispering something else to the nurses. His eyes silently spoke volumes

as the O-R team quickly went back to work. Not even a minute old, and already I felt such love for her.

And still, I was absolutely powerless to help my baby girl. But I'm her daddy, I thought to myself.

I'm supposed to be able to protect her to keep her safe.

And still, all I could do was watch from the sidelines and do nothing.

It was out of my hands.

She came home from the hospital five days later, and for a while, I kept her safe, for as long as I could.

Until the time came, when I couldn't.

Destiny demanded that Tracy would one day become a gymnast.

After all, she began practicing for the sport while still

sleeping in a crib. Twice, Karen and I found her roaming the house long after she and her stuffed

animal friends had been tucked in for the night. Determined to learn how this feat was being

accomplished, we waited and watched, and eventually we saw our not quite two-year-old scaling the sides of her crib with the amazing agility of Sir Edmund Hillary repelling Mount Everest.

Rather than running the risk of her plummeting during one of our nighttime escapades,

we thought it best if she made the transition from crib to big girl bed.

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