A quirk of the
calendar makes birthdays special for
Leap Day babies
By
Nancy Watkins
Tribune reporter
February 24, 2008
News people get to do a Leap
Year story only once every four
years, and Q was not about to
let the chance slip away.
So a few weeks ago we asked Leap
Day babies to tell us how they
celebrate. We heard from dozens
of you, from
88-year-old Carmella Scamardi to
the mother of 4-year-old
Madeline Block.
You told us of the many
advantages -- people tend to
remember your birthday, for one.
We learned of a few
disadvantages
too -- that the fame that
Leap-hood brings is a
double-edged sword, and that
date-of-birth confusion can work
against you.
But if nothing else, Leap Day
babies, or Leapers, tell us
their birthdays are always
memorable. (By the way, the term
Leapers doesn't appear to be too
common, at least in these parts.
But it is used by the Honor
Society of Leap Year Day
Babies, so we will too for
convenience' sake.)
A common theme is to treat the
official birthday as if it were
the real-time birthday -- for
instance, have a party for a
16-year-old that's designed for
a 4-year-old. That's what Monica
Idstein of Valparaiso, Ind., had
four years ago. "It was
very funny," Monica said, "but
the gifts [Barbies and the like]
were not as fun."
When she turned 32, Judy Keller
of
Winnetka had a
similar party where the guests
dressed as 8-year-olds. "I was
most
impressed with the 40-something
man who could still fit in his
Boy Scout uniform -- and most
distressed by the gift of a
gerbil."
Q likes the Leapers who enjoy
messing with people. Elissa
Weissberg of Skokie tells her kids' friends her Leap
Year
age and makes them figure it
out.
And hats off to Burr Ridge resident Scamardi's late
husband, Steve. For her 64th
birthday, "he went to a jewelry
store
and said he wanted to purchase a
necklace ... for his wife who
'just turned 16.' You can
imagine the surprised look on
the salesperson's face, since he
was 63 years old at the time!"
Read on for more Leap Day baby
stories.
What are the odds?
Leapers, having already beaten
the odds by being born on Feb.
29, seem to invite coincidence.
Several wrote in to say
they shared birthdays with
relatives.
Jennifer Lund of Chicago reports that at Willowbrook School in Glenview, she is one of three Leapers on
the staff of about
50.
Scarier than that is the tale of
Madeline Block, age 1/4.
"Strangely, when I was pregnant
with her, my husband and I chose
a gender-neutral frog wallpaper
for her bedroom,"
wrote mom Marta Segal Block of
Oak Park. "Other,
unrequested frog gifts and
accessories began arriving from
people
who had no idea about the
wallpaper. When she was born on
Leap Day, we began calling her 'Froggy,'
and it seemed
almost pre-ordained."
Spookiest of all is the story
told by Peter Brouwer,
co-founder of the Honor Society
of Leap Year Day Babies, who
lives
on Vancouver Island in British
Columbia. He once met a man from
Belgium who was born the same
minute as he. Not
only that, but as they talked
they learned that they had
visited the same town in India a
few months apart -- and stayed
at the same hotel.
- - -
Big plans for a big day
This year, Sally Tuozzo of
Elk Grove
Village has already celebrated;
last month she shared a Sweet 16
party with her
granddaughter, who turned 16 for
real in December.
Dawn Desjardins of Libertyville is not a Leaper, but she's
marking the release of her
children's book "Leopold's Long
Awaited Leap Year Birthday"
(Artistic Ventures, $22.95),
which both celebrates and
explains Leap Day birthdays.
Celebrating her "big 0-5" is
Jessica Zimmerman of
Arlington Heights. Soon,
she says, her mother will be
hitting the
big 5-0. "Maybe we can reuse the
decorations!"
Lorna Johnson of
Willowbrook (4/16) is inviting
other Leapers to join her this
week in Anthony, Texas/N.M. The
self-proclaimed Leap Year
capital of the world is holding
its sixth Worldwide Leap Year
Festival. (Why is Anthony
the Leap Year capital, you ask?
Because they thought of it
first.)
Other Leapers are traveling too.
How many 7-year-olds get to
spend their birthday in Las
Vegas? That's where Stephanie
Morgan of Chicago is going.
Luck-eee!
Debbie Cooper Lorig of Chicago
and her husband, Dave, feel
they've hit the jackpot, even
though they're in Siberia this
week; they're adopting two
daughters there.
But why is Laura Schiff (10/40)
of
Buffalo Grove going to
Minnesota? "I've always
wanted a ticket stub with my
birthday
on it. ... I was willing to fly
anywhere in the U.S. to see a
band I liked." She found
Umphrey's McGee in Minneapolis,
and she's also hitting Mall of
America for some "retail
therapy." (After all, 40 is 40
even when it's 10.)
- - -
Making it last
Of course, when your birthday
comes only once in four years,
you're entitled to do it up big.
But what about the other 75
percent of the time?
We have to hand it to Nannette
Abate (12/48) of Berkeley for
being a stickler for accuracy:
"When there is no 29th of
February, I really do not
celebrate, and it really does
not feel like I have a
birthday."
But she is in the minority. For
most Leapers, the only question
in non-Leap Years is not whether
to celebrate but when.
Kathy Montana of Wheaton has struggled with this
question all of her 15/60 years.
She would want to observe her
birthday on March 1 because she
was born the day after Feb. 28.
Her mother would counter that
she was born in February,
not March.
If forced to choose, only 10
percent of our respondents delay
gratification until March 1.
Forty-five percent favor the
28th
because it's in the birth month.
Just as many, though, make it
easy and pick both.
Marianne Abrahamson of
Cedarburg, Wis., takes it even
further -- admirably, in our
view. She starts around Feb. 15
and
goes till March 10.
"[My husband] is thrilled when
there is an actual Leap Day on
the calendar and we only have
one day to celebrate."
- - -
It's not all cake and presents
Having a Leap Day birthday is
not without its problems. It
created an instant rift between
Melissa Klein of Des Plaines and her big
sister, who turned 5 three days
before Melissa arrived
prematurely and snagged all the
attention. "Most of
my first baby pictures with me
and my big sister are of her
peering down at me in disgust.
Eventually, she got over it."
Linda Myers of Milwaukee had to
wait until 12:01 a.m. March 1
for her first legal adult
beverage.
Fame as a Leaper came back to
haunt Donna Fink of Janesville,
Wis. When she was 1/4, she had
her picture taken for
the local paper getting a kiss
on the cheek from a boy who was
born the same day.
"I never saw this boy again
until ... I found myself in a
class the first day of 7th grade
with Michael Colosimo, the boy
in
the newspaper picture with me!"
Donna and Michael never
acknowledged their past to each
other until a class reunion
decades later.
But all in all, Leap Day babies
wouldn't have it any other way.
Wrote Josh Halpren (4/16) of Baltimore, "It's nice to have
people recognize you for
something that you didn't even
do!"