A Memory of My Dad

I am a member of Patsy Clairmont’s private Facebook group called Writerly Intentions. Today she asked us to write a memory we have had of our father or father figure. Below is the brief story I shared…

My dad, Edward Carl Wussow, was electrocuted on New Year’s Eve in 1974 when I was a 9th grader in high school. Seventy two hundred (7200) volts of electricity entered his body when the tip of his middle finger on his left hand barely brushed over the substation hot wire, passed through his heart between beats, then exploded out his right arm, fingers, knee, and foot.

The miracle…he lived to tell about it. The miracle…the electricity passed through his body BETWEEN heart beats.

My dad endured indescribable pain, and yet he persevered! He survived! Thank goodness my dad was a man who had a strong will to live because he needed an overdose of that will during those years of his recovery.

I watched him fight for healing with all the courage and strength he could muster up. The doctors told him he would only live for about five years after that electrocution because of the toll it took on him. Well guess what? That accident happened to my dad when he was 45 years old. He lived until he was 85!

My dad…the strongest, bravest, most courageous man I have ever known. (Thank you, Jesus and St. Paul Ramsey Hospital Burn Unit in St. Paul Minnesota for saving my dad!)

Dad…I know, without a doubt, you are enjoying Father’s Day in Heaven. I have peace knowing I will see you again someday. Until then, please know how much I love you and miss you!