Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published March 3, 2004

Happy birthday to the leapies

Some call themselves "leapies" and others prefer "29ers" but that small group sharing the common birthdate of February 29 had a 1 in 1,461 chance of arriving on that date. I was surprised to learn that the Chronicle's assistant editor Cheryl Duncan was one of that exclusive group.

In 1996 Cheryl had interviewed several other local folks with birthdays on February 29 and I talked to several of them again. One, Maureen Jennings, is deceased but her sister, Valice Jennings, told me they always had their celebration from Feb. 28 to March 1 between leap years.

Wanda Billington was looking forward to the 29th but she laughed and said she celebrates that last week in February all week. She said although her mother made all holidays special, family birthdays were extra special because her mother said, "They belonged to us." Wanda said she always felt her odd birthdate was an asset.

Another 29er is John Schwarz, a retired United Church of Christ minister living at Uplands. Having a birthday every four years didn't seem strange to him because another student in his elementary school class was also born on leap year's extra day. On the off years, John's birthday was celebrated on the 28th because his mother was adamant that he was born in February, not March.

John chuckled as he recalled sitting in his high chair when he was four and it was to have been his first legal birthday celebration. His mother had made plans for a great party but John developed pink eye and so there was no party.

Cheryl said her birthday had always been celebrated on the 28th in the between years but there was always some youngster in her class who would taunt that it wasn't her REAL birthday. When she 12 she took matters into her own hands and unofficially changed her birthday to March 1 except when the 29th appeared on the calendar.

It was only about 300 years ago that any business was transacted on the 29th because it was thought that date would not hold up in court. Each leap year commercial payrolls are affected. Salaried workers have no problem and they will see a little extra pay for the added day. Those on biweekly pay periods will see 27 pay periods rather than 26. City, state and federal governments must allow for an extra day of operation in their budgets.

In 1984 a gentleman in British Columbia began an organization he called International Underlings Day to be celebrated on February 29 "for people who fall through the cracks." The whole idea may have fallen through the cracks because I found no mention of it on the Internet. In 1988 another idea caught fire and is growing every year.

That informative American Profile that is included in our Friday paper told the story about the world's leap year capital. The title belongs to the sister border towns of Anthony, New Mexico and Texas. The Chamber of Commerce was approached by two leap year baby residents with the suggestion that they sponsor a Leap Year Festival, a Leap Year Birthday Club and publicize themselves as the World's Leap Year Capital. Every four years the visitors increase.

For those of us with ordinary birth dates, remember the long year helps everyone stay a little younger since it postpones that next birthday an extra 24 hours!

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.