Grant and crew arrived just after the ambulance left, and they were told that she had another, longer seizure - that her condition was deteriorating and they called a helicopter to Lutsen to fly her to Duluth. She had a near 30-minute episode on the water of Sawbill, they administered care in the boat. When I heard this later I remember thinking, "that could have been you, or that could have happened with her daughter in the boat..."

That day and the three that followed are a little blurry. We got sporadic updates from Grant, my wife, and my brother. Winds picked up, Grant was exhausted, and he wisely decided to crash at Sawbill and return first thing in the morning. The EMT's, as they were packing up, told Grant that her condition was deteriorating rapidly so they flew her out of Tofte. All our hearts sank but I was especially worried about him - without either parents after trauma like that. I am grateful for my brother, who called him later that night to help him process and check-in, and the teens and I talked a lot about what had happened. It was good to talk though our emotions and support each other. We stress ate a lot of snacks. We wanted to try to salvage as much of the trip as we could for the kids, one of which - was in the BWCA for the first time. We paddled to the rocks on Beth and the kids achieved stress-release through jumping into the water on the famous Beth "cliffs" (with life jackets and shoes, of course). They asked why I wouldn't jump in...to which I responded, "well, I'm the only adult left...let's not tempt fate, shall we?" All agreed, and they were especially careful the whole trip. We came back to camp as a thunderstorm rolled in. We fished, swam, played cards, ate a lot of snacks...and dodged torrential rainstorms in our tents and the Bugout. We found that an XXL rainsuit, when pulled tightly around both your bare bum AND the privy, creates a blissful barrier against mosquitos (this would be dubbed the "pottycoat", but said in a British accent like "petticoat"). In a bad British accent: “Daaaddy, do you have the pottycoat, I simply must drop the kids off at the pool…” It helped with the bugs, and it helped to laugh. We had a lot of emotions - worry, stress, enjoyment - and guilt for trying to enjoy ourselves when we knew my wife, E and S were all still up to their necks in stress. It was hard. It was fun. It was fun and hard and emotional all at the same time.