The Day of Leaplings! :)

I woke up this morning and I knew something was strange about today...Today must be something special, I thought. Quite logically, I rolled over to check my calender, and so it is! You see, today only comes once every four years. *Runs to hug February 29th* In honor of this very special day, I thought I'd write a Leap-Day-ish sort of post for your amusement.

Nope--it's not about these cute little guys, despite what you might think.

It is, essentially, a catch-all day for the random, tail-ends of the last three years. A glorious little miss-fit day, if you will. Leap-Year-Day sets me thinking in random directions, such as "If you are born on Feb. 29, when should you celebrate your birthday on the 'years'? The 28th? The 1st?" I thought this was a cute little poem:

The First 4 Leap Years
By Raenell Dawn, 2002

I'm a little Leapling, smart and fun.
When I turn four, I'll really be one.
I'm a little Leapy, with lots to do.
When I turn eight, I'll really be two.
I'm a little Leaper, with lots to see.
When I turn twelve, I'll really be three.
I'm a Leap Day Baby, and so much more.
When I turn sixteen, I'll really be four.

I don't know about you, but I love all these little incidental holidays--whoever thought up Leap-Year was quite brilliant in an English-Language sort of way.

"English Language? What on earth are you talking about?"

Oh. I'm sorry. Only the fact that English makes no sense at all and neither does Leap-Year...that is, till you turn it upside down and look at it and see it is rather helpful after all. :) But it is rather sad, for when I looked up Leap Year online, there is very little said about it. Really, we must remedy this. We must make it a happy day for all the birthday-people who are overlooked 3 years out of 4.

Happy Birthday to you! We love you even though the calender slights you so often! :)

I had a good laugh over the difficulties that could potentially assail a "leapling." See this bit of Wikipedia's page:

A person born on February 29 may be called a "leapling" or a "leaper".^[14] In common years they usually celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March 1. In some situations, March 1 is used as the birthday in a non-leap year since it is the day following February 28.
Technically, a leapling will have fewer birthday anniversaries than their age in years. This phenomenon is exploited when a person claims to be only a quarter of their actual age, by counting their leap-year birthday anniversaries only. In Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, Frederic the pirate apprentice discovers that he is bound to serve the pirates until his 21st birthday rather than until his 21st year.

Oh oh oh! And this is the best bit. Single Girls of my Acquaintance? This is your year to shine...ahem...

Haha! Apparently by old tradition, women can propose to their men during the Leap Year. [And more specifically, on Leap Day] See this excerpt from the Wikipedia page:

Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow

 This post-card made me laugh too:

 What a to-do! What a mad, merry day! :) I hope you enjoyed this rambling, crazy little post and that you might have learned to appreciate this quirky day all the more! Happy Leap-Year-Day everyone!

-Rachel