JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

I doubt it.

You wake up, and it is over. The people who work are going back to work, and the people who don’t work are cleaning up and thinking, “What now?”

In our case, Brooks and I (Patty went back to work) are doing dishes, shutting the windows, turning on the A.C. and planning to return a dozen folding chairs and two tables to our neighbor down the street. (When I was making the borrowing arrangements, my neighbor said, “I wish I’d been to as many parties as my tables and chairs have been to.”)

Josie

Another small task is to take a front screen window to the hardware store for re-screening. Our black lab-German Shepherd got so excited during our fireworks display last night she bulled her way through the screen and joined us in the yard. She’s a social animal, our Josie. (At another point, with people coming in and out the front door, she got out and wandered off into the Ward Parkway median. I didn’t realize she had been gone ’til I went to the front door and there she was, waiting to come in. A few minutes later, a woman — a stranger — appeared at the back gate and said the dog had been out in the parkway. Whew!)

Unlike a lot of people, we didn’t leave any fireworks detritus in the street. Contrary to my expansive statements beforehand, our display was relatively small (although every bit as spectacular as I had promised), and we scooped up the remnants immediately afterward.

The party’s over.

But back to the finality of the Fourth…There are other holidays that end with a thump — like Memorial Day and Labor Day — but the anticipation of those days isn’t as pronounced, and it’s easier to wake up the next day without missing too many beats.

Then you’ve got Christmas, with the biggest buildup of all. It tends to linger. Family members who have moved away are often in town; people have taken off work the entire week; and, in this era, young and old alike can continue playing with their new electronic gadgets.

New Year’s Day also tends winds down slowly. It used to end more quickly, back when the big college football bowl games were concentrated on that one day and there were no more after that. Now, they drag on for two weeks, and people say “Happy New Year” for two weeks after that.

The closest thing to the July 4 evaporation on July 5 is the disappearance of Easter Sunday on Easter Monday. He — HE — rises on Sunday, and on Monday it’s back in the saddle; the stone rolls forward.

So, here it is, July 5, and about all I can think of is I’m one day closer to knee-replacement surgery…It was a great day, though — the Fourth. We had a terrific party with good friends from as far west as Olathe and as far east as Brookside Boulevard. The food was fantastic, the weather was accommodating…and nobody drove home drunk. It’s great to wake up in America on July 5.