Forever young

Winnipeg Free Press Tuesday, February 24, 2004 Page: D1 Section: Life Byline: Carolin Vesely

Forever young

ONE person in every 1,461 is born bissextile.

Members of this invisible minority -- informally known as Leapers, Leapies or 29ers -- age slower than the rest
of us, and are often younger than their own children. They are able to legally purchase alcohol and attend
R-rated movies at the age of 4 1/2.

All because they were born on Feb. 29.

Sunday is Bissextile Day, a.k.a. Leap Day -- meaning some 4.1 million leap-year babies worldwide, including
1,200 or Manitobans, will add another year to their chronological age. It's something Leapers only do officially
every four years.

Bissextile, as racy as it might sound, simply refers to the extra day we add to the calendar in a leap year to
synchronize it with the seasons.

It actually takes the Earth 365.24 days to circle the sun. Without leap years, that extra quarter-day would add up
and we'd get six hours behind every year and would eventually end up Christmas shopping in shorts and tank tops.

So on Sunday, please excuse Leapers if they cut loose and party like it's 2000. They've endured three
"unbirthdays" since then. (Century years are only leap years if divisible by 400.)

Gloria Rathwell, who officially turns 12 this year, decided long ago to embrace her "leapness" after discovering it had
some perks in the leapless world.

For example, the Wolseley resident and her special birthday will be the feature attraction at an upcoming
show-and-tell session at her daughter's elementary school. Her kids, 8 and 13, get a "big kick" out of having
an "adolescent" mom,

Rathwell says.

"They joke and make bets with their friends -- 'my mom is younger than yours.'" Rathwell says the extra
attention she got as a wee leapie compensated nicely for the lack of official birthdays. "It's a very fun thing,"
she says. "It's rare enough that people are intrigued by it. Extra fusses were made. I still get extra calls
from friends and acquaintances. "It's a great thing. You can't lose."

Scott O'Malley, on the other hand, says being born a Leaper meant he had to take his lumps. "Kids can be cruel,"
says O'Malley, who lives in the Twin Cities, Minn., and is about to turn 10. "They'd kind of rub it in. They'd always
tell me, 'You don't get a birthday.' My sisters teased me, too."

Revenge came and it was sweet. "When I was 16, we'd celebrate both days (Feb. 28 and March 1) and I'd make
my mom bake me two cakes," says O'Malley, CEO of the World Snowmobile Association. "Whenever I had an
actual birthday, it was a bigger party than the other kids'."

Rathwell similarly makes up for those missing Feb. 29 dates. "On non-leap years, I sometimes celebrate for a
week straight." On Sunday, she'll be celebrating her 12th with a family ski trip.

Meanwhile, O'Malley will in Green Bay, Wisc., for a big snowmobile race, but he won't be alone for his landmark
leap day. "My wife is bringing a busload of friends in for a big party," he says. O'Malley remembers a particularly
special benefit of having a leap-year birthday. "I always told my friends in high school that I could never get
drafted because I'll never be old enough."

Leap Facts

* The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies has some 4,200 members worldwide. Register at www.leapzine.com.
The website is an online source for everything leap-related, including greeting cards, memorabilia, tips for leap
parents and a Leaptionary.

* In 45 BC, Emperor Julius Caesar proclaimed the last day of February as Leap Year Day, skipping it three out of
four years. Back then, Feb. 30 was the last day of the last month of the year, which is why he picked it.

* Some years are longer than others. This is mostly due to weather. Every few years, scientists agree to add or
remove a second from a year right at midnight on Jan. 1 or July 1. This is called a Leap Second.

* This year marks the 50th anniversary of a failed attempt by the United Nations to adopt a more accurate world
calendar. It would have given us a 52-week, 364-day year that would have begun Jan. 1 and ended with a "dateless"
year-end day.

* Famous leapers include singer Dinah Shore, motivational speaker Anthony Robbins and rapper Ja Rule.

* Greek superstition claims couples will have bad luck if they marry during a leap year.

* According to a tradition dating back to fifth-century Ireland, leap year was traditionally a time when women could
propose marriage. Feb. 29 is sometimes referred to as Sadie Hawkins Day, but that day is actually Nov. 15. The
only similarity is that women may do the asking on both days.