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Star Ledger |
Ah, yes, another four years, another birthday
It's time to celebrate for Leap Year babies
Sunday, February 29, 2004
ROBERT E. MISSECK
Star-Ledger Staff
William Kolano, who celebrates his 11th birthday today, loves mountain biking and skiing -- and is also about to
present evidence against a murder suspect in Elizabeth.
Kolano is not a brave child witness, but rather one of about 200,000 people nationwide who have the distinction
of being a "Leap Year day baby."
Kolano, the assistant Union County prosecutor who celebrates his 44th year on Earth today, was born on Feb. 29,
a date that occurs only once every four years.
"When I was born at 12:55 a.m., I was the first Leap Year day baby in Passaic Hospital, and so the local paper
came and took my picture, and I was in the paper the next day," he said.
"Four years later, on my first 'official' birthday, they came back again and took another picture of me leaping over
my brother as part of the celebration," Kolano said.
"Leapers," as they are sometimes know, can expect a fair amount of extra attention, as well as a lifetime of
infrequent birthdays, predictable jokes and silly questions.
"The three questions leap-day babies are asked most are, 'When do you celebrate? How old are you really? And,
how does it feel not getting a birthday every year?'" said Raenell Dawn, who helps run the Honor Society of Leap
Year Day Babies Web site.
And be careful about how you refer to their age, Dawn warns.
"I will be 11 this year, not 11 years, because it's obvious I am not going to be 11 years old," said the 44-year-old
Oregon resident, who maintains the Web site with a Canadian Leap Year day baby named Peter Brouwer.
Sherri Riddle of Bridgeton, who celebrates her eighth birthday today, says there are good and bad things about
being born on Feb. 29.
"My family forgets me. I am lucky if I get any calls during the years in between birthdays," said Riddle, 32, who
works for a bank and is the mother of two.
Linda Buttafogo of Bridgewater said her nephews, ages 11, 14 and 17, all get a kick out of telling her they are older
then her.
She will be celebrating her 10th birthday today.
"It's a lot easier to say I am turning 10 instead of 40," Buttafogo said.
Some people born on Leap Year day may choose to celebrate their birthdays on Feb. 28 or March 1. Others, however,
accept no substitute.
"I wait the four years for my birthday to come around because I wasn't born March 1 or Feb. 28, I was born on Feb. 29,"
said Marc Delman of Livingston, 44, who will be putting only 11 candles on his cake this year.
There will only be one candle on Maris Kahn's cake today as she celebrates her first birthday, even though she is 4
years old.
Her mom, Susan, said the birthday is quite fitting for her daughter, who possesses other singular qualities.
"It was an extraordinary day for a special girl, who is very unique with her red hair and blue eyes. No one else in the
family has those features," her mom said.
Maris celebrate her birthday in non-Leap Years on March 1, because her mom said she went on the Internet and
discovered most Leap Year day babies celebrate on that day.
Edward MacNicoll of Trenton is turning 17, which is 68 in real years.
He was one of four babies born on Feb. 29, 1936 in the old McKinley Hospital in Washington Crossing.
"We were in the newspaper the next day but I have never met them in my life," MacNicoll, a real estate appraiser, said
of the others born that day.
"In fact, I was in the Marine Corps and taught all over and I have never met or known anybody else who was born on
that day," he said.
According to The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies Web site, one out of every 1,461 people are born on Feb. 29.
The Web site says there are about 200,000 Leap Year day babies in the United States and 4 million worldwide.
Randy and Ron Zavattieri are an even rarer phenomena -- twin Leap Year day babies who are about to celebrate their
11th birthdays.
"We were the only twins born on leap day in the U.S.A., but my dad was too old-fashioned and didn't want to call the
media," said Randy, who lives in Kenilworth.
Jim France of Flanders, who turns 12 today, remembers how his birthday was both a help and a hindrance when he
was younger.
"I'm a certified public accountant and when I passed the licensing test I took in Maryland I had to wait for six months
to get my certification because the computer data base didn't recognize the birthday," France said.
On the plus side, while other drivers in Maryland could only get a two-year driver's license at the time, Flanders' first
license was a four-year one.
Jim Yavorsky said he "technically" got a permanent driver's license from South Carolina when it issued him one that
expired on his birthday in 1982, a year in which Feb. 29 did not fall.
"It probably wouldn't have held up in court," said the chemical consultant from Mickleton, who will celebrate his 13th
birthday in 2008 -- the same year his daughter turns 13 -- in real years.
Robert E. Misseck works in the Union County bureau. He can be reached at rmisseck@starledger.com or at
(908) 302-1507.
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