Forty years ago, to the day, a heavily pregnant woman suffering in the late summer heat was more than ready for her baby to arrive. Despite being two weeks past her due date, the almost 10 pound baby was in no rush.
An induction was planned, but after seeing the date, the heavily pregnant mother was suddenly willing to wait one more day. The baby arrived into the world on February 29.
Samantha Allemann was born on the leap year day of February 29 and turns 40 (or 10) on Thursday.
I’ve always loved my birthday. For one thing, it’s given me something to say when I had to share an interesting fact about myself. It tends to stick in people’s minds, so I get a flurry of messages on my special day. It feels different, unusual. There’s only a one in 1461 chance of being born on February 29, making it the rarest birthday.
Yet, us leaplings are still not as unique as we feel. I have two other leapling friends, both unrelated to each other. We met at a leapling convention, where those of us born on February 29 eat canapes and make a bunch of small talk about our birthdate. Just kidding, we met at work.
Both are born four years before me, so they have endured four more years of the same old comments and cringey jokes – “how old are you really?” and “you’re pretty tall for a six-year-old”.
While they both claim March 1 as their birthdays on non-leap years, I’ve always felt loyalty to February 28, choosing it as my day to celebrate. March is a different month after all, and the start of a new season. And had I exited the womb on my due date I would have been a February baby, so it just feels right.
Unless, of course, March 1 falls on a preferable day of the week – say a Friday. Then, my loyalty to February 28 suddenly disappears because as common as it is for a leapling to be questioned on which day they celebrate, most people don’t strictly adhere to partying on their birthdate, and who in their right mind wants to host a party on a Tuesday?
The question that rarely gets asked is why we even have a February 29 every four years. Given I couldn’t offer anything more than a mumbled offer of “it’s to do with the earth … and the sun … the calendar”, I’m glad I haven’t been quizzed on it.
As a leap year baby, I’m technically turning 10. But I’ve endured 40 years of bad jokes
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28.02.2024
Forty years ago, to the day, a heavily pregnant woman suffering in the late summer heat was more than ready for her baby to arrive. Despite being two weeks past her due date, the almost 10 pound baby was in no rush.
An induction was planned, but after seeing the date, the heavily pregnant mother was suddenly willing to wait one more day. The baby arrived into the world on February 29.
Samantha Allemann was born on the leap year day of February 29 and turns 40 (or 10) on Thursday.
I’ve always loved my birthday. For one thing, it’s given me........
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