It was considered imperative that we go to church. I couldn't very persuasively argue against it, and it was right across the street, so we went. I cannot recall the last time I attended a service held in a church. The more intelligent among you will note that this is because I am Jewish. However, I also cannot recall the last time I attended a service held in a synagogue. The more intelligent among you will note that this is because I am atheist. Funny way to be Jewish, but that's me.

So anyway, we went to church, wherein the prayers were mostly jingoistic songs about America and the service was led by a preacher man striving for, but never quite reaching, humor. Whereas in a Jewish service, the prayers are written in a foreign language very much unlike English, or even modern Hebrew, and the rabbi doesn't even try to be funny until it's all over and he's had some Manischewitz wine. One thing in common, though: for sitting through the whole thing, they give you good food.

We were hoping to go for a bike ride afterward, but the bikes wouldn't inflate. Without air, their mechanical advantages became disadvantages, and so we walked instead. And it started to drizzle, and it was lovely, and then our time was up, and then she drove me to the Milwaukee airport, and she warned that I wouldn't hear from her for another two months, and I pretended to be able to accept that, and then we said goodbye from a very small distance, and then once more, just in case. And then she was gone.