The Big Reveal

My new assignment at work gives me a lot of downtime.  Which has allowed me a chance to investigate new horrors encroaching on the human race that I never would have dreamed of.

Like, ultrasound reveal parties!

(Because baby showers aren't enough.)

Get this.  You invite all your friends over so you can bare your pregnant belly in the sloppy horizontal position (very unhostesslike, I always think) in the middle of them so that a technician can show them all--since they can already see your skin--what else lies beneath your skin.  The baby, and whatever else.

Now, everyone present may not be trained to read a sonogram, but it still seems to me like a bad idea.

Not only is it a loss of privacy for you, but just imagine what it must be like for your fetus!  There s/he is, minding her own business, when, suddenly, dozens of eyes are trained right on her.  In the privacy of her own room.  And she won't be wearing anything at all!

This could go on the list of Things Kids Can Sue Their Parents for Later.

Besides that, lots of things could go wrong.  I mean, think about it.  This should be what's otherwise known as a private medical moment.  Everything is not always hunkey-dorey-dorey.

In other words, your party could fall flat.

You could embarrass not only yourself, but your spouse/partner, and every single guest, including the ultrasound tech.

I know I'm getting old, but this tendency to try to focus everyone in our world on me, me, me! has gotten a little out of hand.

Weddings are now affairs so elaborate that they take a year or two to plan and finance.  There can't just be a wedding, a reception, a rehearsal dinner, a bridal shower, a bachelor party, and a honeymoon.  Now there are also what seem to be less and less "optional" events to include a staged engagement, a bachelorette party in another state, and on and on and on and on.

I recently heard of a party at which you tell your guests that they are NOT going to be invited to the wedding although you really do love them dearly, and so they are to sign up to help you pick out your dress or some other wedding-related activity for an event they are not allowed to come to.

Fun.

Another growing trend is to skip formalities for weddings, showers, graduations, and even deaths in the family, and just tell people where they can send their checks.

People in our lives are happy to participate in our major life events, to a point, people, but let's not overdo it.

Let's take care what, exactly, we choose to reveal about ourselves.  It might not be what we think.