Those born on leap-year day celebrate today

FENWICK ISLAND -- Here's a quick math question: How can a father be the same age as his 14-year-old daughter, who turns 15 a day later?

Answer: The father was born on leap-year day, Feb. 29, 60 years earlier, and his 15-year-old daughter's birthday is March 1. Think that sounds like a purely hypothetical? Think again.

Eight years ago, that's exactly what happened to Bob Buckler of Fenwick Island. Buckler was born Feb. 29, 1944, but is celebrating his 17th birthday today. He's a member of an exclusive club of leap-year day babies.

"I like it," Buckler said of having a quadrennial birthday. "I expect people to remember it, but I don't do anything huge. As a kid I enjoyed it, (because) it made me seem different.""I like it," Buckler said of having a quadrennial birthday. "I expect people to remember it, but I don't do anything huge. As a kid I enjoyed it, (because) it made me seem different."

According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, statistically speaking, one in every 1,461 people should have a Feb. 29 birthday. The society estimates there are 200,000 leap-year day babies in the United States and 5 million worldwide.

Leap-year day doesn't just have significance for those who were born that day. Salaried employees who are paid based on a 365-day year work for free today.

For many leap-year day babies, the novelty is more for others than for themselves, said William Crompton, a 37- (or 9-) year-old from New York.

"My friends and family always insist on doing something when it comes around," Crompton said. "I don't really celebrate it. I feel like most people who would have a leap day birthday are probably like 'whatever' about it."

Some computerized databases -- like those used by insurance companies -- don't have Feb. 29 as a choice when potential customers need to fill out their birthday, but Crompton said the only confusion he's ever encountered because of his birthday came at bars.

"Turning 21 was ridiculous because, well, bouncers aren't the brightest of people so they thought it was a fake ID," Crompton said. "I've never had any problems other than that."

The persistent dilemma for any leap-year day baby is when to celebrate birthdays during the non-leap years. The Honor Society claims 80 percent of leap-year day babies celebrate their off-year birthdays on Feb. 28.

 

Buckler said that once you get to a certain age, you enjoy the leap-year day birthdays because, frankly, you don't have as many.

"When you get to be 68, you don't want to remember your birthdays," he said. "But it's nice because people will always send me a card who otherwise wouldn't talk to me, and I get a kick out of that."