Ginger
Christmas 2007 was to be a Morrow Christmas year.
For a variety of reasons it was decided that we would spend the holidays in the British Virgin Islands on a boat. A sail boat. By this point in time, it was fairly clear that while I greatly appreciated sailing, my inner ear and stomach did not appreciate chaotic motion of a smaller vessel.
But this particular trip, or the possibility of it at least, had been something I had been hearing about from Hillary, Heather and Roger for nearly the entirety of the relationship at that point. And 2007 it looked like was as good a year as any to do it. I wasn't going to stand in the way of this.
We packed and planned. I had done some experimenting and research with how to deal with my motion sickness. I ultimately decided on popping ginger pills pretty regularly. There was some research it might do something and if not, I might have placebo on my side.
Hillary and I discussed this a bit. She was worried that this trip may be... difficult on me. I think I faced it with aplomb. Anyway, she sourced and picked up a big bottle of concentrated ginger from some natural store and at my request, also picked up some Gravol. I tend to not like using Gravol if I can avoid it as I get really dopey on it. I didn't want to spend the trip in a fog.
But if it got rough and the ginger wasn't cutting it, I figured it would be good to have some on hand.
So we got down there. I kept taking the ginger and was mostly doing alright. I felt a bit queasy from time to time, but it was fairly smooth and as long as I stayed up top, I could basically handle it.
Until one crossing where we were getting tossed around a fair bit more. I could feel that things were potentially getting worse and I asked Hillary to head down and get what I probably referred to as the good stuff.
She did. I took a couple.
About thirty minutes later, I was still not feeling super great, but I also wasn't feeling anywhere near as sleepy as I should have been given the dose I just took. I asked Hillary what they were.
"Gravol. And since we had been talking about ginger, it turned out they made a version that also had ginger in it."
"Can I see the box?"
She brought it up. The Gravol manufacturers did indeed make one that had ginger. That particular package also didn't have any of the actual medicinal ingredients I was hoping for. I pointed this out a bit sadly.
I am pretty sure I wasn't angry or anything. It's possible I came across that way as I was feeling pretty nauseous. I definitely recall giving Hillary a bit of a bad time about this. I meant it to be good natured though, this was clearly an event where I would get a point.
What brought this on was my memory of Hillary's expression as realization dawned on her over those few seconds that I read the ingredients. About four or five different ones in fast succession. Hillary always had a very expressive face and watching her go through a few different ones in fast succession was always something I enjoyed.
I think that's one of the reasons why the various surprise things are burned so deeply into my memories.
Anyway, one point Warren there.
I think I can safely say that Hillary felt a little bit bad about that for the rest of her life. She was happy we did this trip. She was happy that it mostly went well for all of us. But she occasionally brought this up and apologized again and again over the years.