Member-only story
I ran out of medication on a hike.
Love Letter to a Problem
My wife and I loaded up the car with enough water and snacks. We put on our hiking boots and our sunglasses, checked the weather, and off we went, with the happiest puppy in the world looking out the back seat window. We drove forty-five minutes to a new park, chatting about recent family dramas, the election, the weather. When we arrived, we found a place in the shade for the car.
All three of us were ecstatic.
Only one thing. I felt that hint of nausea that tells me a migraine is on the way.
“No problem,” I thought. Since I’ve been suffering with migraines every single day for two and a half years, I never go anywhere without my stash. I pulled out the red zipper bag that holds my little bottle of Excedrin for Migraine.
Empty. (How can that be? I never, ever, let myself run out of medication.)
There was some mental scurrying. We were still unbuckling seatbelts, not out yet. So I looked around in her car for some backup meds — no reason why she should have had it — and I looked again in my bag. I didn’t want to tell her what was going on. A) I didn’t want her worrying about me to hang like a black cloud…
