No one ever gets lost in good weather. If we weren't wading hip-deep in snow during winter months, we were inhaling mosquitos in the summer. In the Fall and Spring the marshy ground would swallow up your boot and refuse to give it back.

One year we had eighteen search and rescue alarms. A few false alarms and one harrowing search where we knew we were looking for a body. Most of them were happy endings, after twenty hours in the field. I would crawl home and swear I'd never go out on a search again.

Why did I do it? I was a single parent with two teen age sons. I was in school getting my degree in social work. The rest of the Oulu Red Cross First Aid Team were in their twenties. I was the "mommy" of the group at 46.

The answer is simple. "If I was lost, I would want someone to get up at 3 a.m. to look for me."

At the age of 50+ nowadays, I don't go out on searches anymore. My sons do. I just write about them.