I like to traditionally celebrate my leap year birthday on the years where there is no leap year by having a two-day birthday festival.
Advertisement
“We always wanted another child but never believed we would have another Leap Year birthday in the family”. Jerry was out in front of the 22News Broadcast Center at 4:30 Monday morning to make sure his daughter’s birthday was recognized. She was born on February 29, 1916, making her America’s oldest-living “leap baby”.
When asked if they celebrate their birthdays together, both men said they “don’t really celebrate”.
DiFranco has crossed paths with a few other Leap Day babies, including one girl that lived in her dorm, Megan Chapman.
Do you count your age in years or birthdays? But up north there is a British tradition that says February 29 is the only day a woman can propose marriage to a man. “I was thinking of keeping it in February”.
“I tell people I’m 24”, the 96-year-old Taylor said with a chuckle. A year is measured by the time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun.
For Carol Day, it’s her wedding anniversary as well as her birthday.
When they married in 2012, Jessica and Jonathaon Abernathy knew they wouldn’t celebrate their first wedding anniversary until this year.
Usually on my non-leap year birthdays I just do a casual dinner.
“It’s one of a kind”, said Sofia’s mom Taylor Massey.
“Everything went great, so whatever day she was born was fine, it just turned out to be today!” Madison’s grandmother was born on February 28, so even non-Leap Years have special meaning. Some will say it just has to be the last day of Feb while others will push for March 1st arguing ferociously that it’s not really a birthday unless you were alive precisely on that day however many years ago.
While the world went into meltdown over the millennium bug, wondering if life machines would turn off and planes fall down from the sky, another date related computer glitch was already in full swing.
Each Leap Day, Lisa Lemay gets a postmark inked on a vintage postcard.
“We’ve had lots of people telling me to buy a lottery ticket this weekend”.
“I’ve come to really enjoy the uniqueness of my birth date”, he said.
This year, when I turn 36 (or 9, depending on which way you look at it) a close friend is coming from London to my newly adopted hometown of New York City to celebrate with me and mark the “real” day.
She remembers a younger birthday with a frog-themed party because of her “leapling” status as well as turning 16, a birthday she celebrated on the actual date. Competitive even. Who had the most heartbreaking stories about forgotten non-birthdays, or had had the biggest blow-outs on leap years. “I just like the cake”.
Advertisement
Perhaps it’s the lack of a “real” birthday that makes me make an effort to arrange some sort of event for it every year. When I was finally old enough to understand that my birthday only came around every four years, I learned to embrace my uniqueness, yet also came to hate the teasing that comes with it.
