The Earth does not run on a perfectly tight schedule and does not orbit the Sun in precisely 365 days. For this reason, every four years, a “leap day” must be added to the calendar to reckon our accounting. Today, February 29, 2024, happens to be such a day.
If we didn’t bother to make this small correction
every four years, our days would gradually but inexorably ratchet back into the
wrong seasons. Where I live, that’s a pretty big deal. Frankly, we already
struggle enough with our winters not knowing or respecting their place on the
calendar.
Now, spare a thought for those born on leap day.
These mystical people technically celebrate a birthday only every 4 years. If
we adhered to this technicality, such people would not be entering first grade
until they were 20 of our years old. Obviously, that will not work. Instead,
February 28 must stand-in for their birthday on other than leap years. Given
all of this, happy birthday leap year babies!
—Mitchell Hegman
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