I miss my wife

I leave tomorrow for Wisconsin. (Well, technically I leave tomorrow for Frankfurt, then fly to Chicago out of Frankfurt first thing Saturday morning.) I'm really looking forward to it. I never would have guessed that Gretchen and I would only see each other once over the past couple of months. Email and phone calls sure help (as Gretchen's mom, Char, once said in amazement, "you just push the buttons and you get Switzerland!"), but it's not the same as being in the same place. As much as I've missed her, it's been a real blessing that she's been home with her mom, and it's great that I'll be able to see Char as well--I pretty much assumed when I visited last month that it was goodbye, so this is a real treat. Both she and Gretchen are tough cookies, I'll say that much. Anyway, I'll be spending a full week there this time. In addition to seeing my lovely wife, I'm looking forward to eating frozen custard, eating Thai food, eating bagels (are you detecting a theme here?), watching stupid American TV (in English!), etc. I just hope someone televises the final match of Euro 2004. I'm not looking quite as forward to the long flight followed by a three-hour drive to Madison, nor the mosquitoes, cheese curds, and humidity that await once I get there, but that's a small price to pay. So, things may be a little slow on the blog for the next week or so.