Leap Year

How many months have 31 days?


... 7, very good!


And how many months only have 30 days?


... 4, excellent!


And how many months have 28 days?



... did you just answer 1, as in February? Wrong! Every month has 28 days, silly!


That joke always used to trick me, so if it didn't trick you, kudos, you are quite clever, aren't you!

Although, as this is a Leap Year, February actually has 29 days. To freshen up your cocktail-party-of-life-random-knowledge, the reason we have Leap Years in the first place is because of the seasons. Since every season "Turn! Turn! Turn[s]!" at its own pace, not based on a certain amount of days, we add a day every four years to keep our year in sync with the appropriate seasons. Why every four years? Because a year, how long it takes for the Earth to rotate the Sun, is technically 365 days and 6 hours. Over four years those additional 6 hours will accumulate another day.

Back in the day when the actual seasons mattered for farming and living purposes, a Leap Year might have been a big deal. Nowadays, we barely blink about it. Just as The Byrds sing, moments and different times in our life are what we consider important "seasons" now. Maybe the updated version of that song, and arguably one of the most popular songs about seasons, "Seasons of Love," from the musical RENT, completely evokes that sentiment. While "daylights, sunsets, midnights, and cups of coffee" still hold true, "525,600 minutes" would be wrong this year. Let's go ahead and make that an even 527,040 minutes and we'll pretend like those were the lyrics the whole time!

Even though I completely understand the point of a Leap Year, it still feels like February 29th is just hiding all of the time singing the chorus of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls: "I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand... I just want you to know who I am"  And then every four years we convince it to come out and we coax it gently with the song "True Colors." We see you February 29th, and we love you for giving us an extra day this year!

So what are we going to do with this day? Most of us will just be at work, a typical Wednesday. For some though, they will finally get to celebrate their birthday after waiting four long years! I've always wondered what it's like for February 29th to be someone's birthday, how special and unique that would be. When I was little I thought that this magically meant that you didn't age for four years, then I realized that was not the case. But would you celebrate on the 28th, so your birthday is still in February even though it's a day early, or would March 1st be considered your birthday for the most part since it would be the right day, just not the right date? This illusive February 29th has always perplexed me.

Something else about Leap Years that makes me furrow my brow is their intervals: "4," because there are so many "fours" in the world. There are four suits in a deck of cards, four years of a Presidency, and four leaves on a lucky clover. Of course there are the four seasons: Franki Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nicki Massi, and Bob Gaudio; "oh won't you stay, just a little bit longer" (that's how I feel about the summer!) Just kidding ;) Then there are the winter and summer Olympics, which occur every four years per season. And the elements: Earth, Wind and Fire; "Sing a Sooooooonnnnggggg." Okay, okay: earth, air, water, and fire; I promise I'm done with that now. Maybe there really is something special about that number four you, four me, four everybody!

Even though February 29th disappears on us all for a few years, "winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you've got to do is call," and I'll be right here, singing, humming, lip-syncing, you name it. Have a great Leap Day!