Baby Boom

If you're alive and paying attention in 2021, congratulations! I would estimate that within the next five years, the current rage for gender reveal parties that feature elaborate pyrotechnics will be over, and you will be able to say you remember them.

To be clear: there is nothing wrong with gender reveal parties. When they began, it was all so anodyne. It caused no problem to have someone wheel out a cake and cut into it to reveal pink, or blue, cake inside. Then, everyone knew the sex of the little blessing on the way AND they got a piece of cake. No one went home mad, except for Uncle Ferdinand, who wanted more boys in the family.

But someone decided we had to step up our game a bit. First, they went with tinted smoke bombs, and then someone said, "Hey! Smoke bombs are great, but what if we set off a REAL bomb to announce that Stella's having a girl/boy!"

And the ceremonies got louder and louder, and often, there was no cake. Or there was one, but it "got blowed up" in the parlance of those who are enchanted by loud noises.

You'll recall last fall in California, a place where sparks and lightning hits start wildfires, and so they don't need help burning the place down.  A family gender party lit off the El Dorado Fire, which burned more than 19,000 acres, and most tragically, killed a firefighter.  All this for a pyrotechnic device.  Big fun.

And the year before, a 56-year-old grandmother was killed. She lost her life at a planning party for a gender reveal. Her family was looking over the various devices they could use, and someone detonated a pipe bomb as they filmed the whole thing.

And this latest one happened this past Sunday in New York State. Christopher Pekny, pictured below, was about to be a father. He was 28 and will not see 29, because the device he was devising to entertain guests at a gender party exploded, and he died.

New York State Police say they got a call for an explosion at a residence in the town of Liberty, NY.  Upon arrival, they found Pekny dead and his brother Michael, 27, injured. NYSP continue to investigate. They aren't specific about what sort of device Pekny was making. They did say there are no charges to be filed.

So now, this child as yet unborn will come into the world without a father. The child's mother and the father's family have to suffer this unimaginable loss, this tragedy, and for what? I simply cannot understand it, but I hope that like Lawn Darts, raw milk, and nunchaku, gender bombs will soon become a thing of the past.

It cannot be worth the risk.