A Leapling Birthday

Draft script:

I’m a Leapling. That’s what members of the species Homo sapiens are called when they have a birthday on Leap Day, the 29th of February.

As you probably know, Leap Day occurs every four years. What you probably don’t know, is that Leap Day does not occur every four years. It probably occurred every four years during your life, and also during mine, although that pattern is occasionally interrupted.

Earth circles the star we call our Sun about every 365 and a quarter days. About, but not quite. For example, if we adhered to the idea of a Leap Day exactly every four years, our calendars would soon be incorrect. Specifically, they would have extra time at the end of each year. As a result, Leap Day does not occur every four years. Leap Day is removed every 100 years. This makes the calendar more accurate than it would be if we ignored the ever-accumulating Leap Years.

As a result of this modification, Leap Day is added every 4 years and then removed every 100 years. There was no Leap Day in 1700, 1800, and 1900. However, there was a Leap Day in 2000. I was alive. I noticed. What’s up with the strategy of removing Leap Day every 100 years, but still including it during the year 2000?

As it turns out, removing Leap Day every 100 years would mean too many removals. Instead of removing Leap Day every 100 years, it’s added back in every 400 years. We cannot ignore the ever-accumulating Leap Years every 100 years. In addition, we cannot ignore the constant removal of Leap Days every 100 years. In contrast to removing Leap Days every 100 years, which engenders a more accurate calendar than if we allowed Leap Days to accumulate every 100 years, we need to add Leap Days back into the calendar every 400 years. As a result, there was no Leap Day in 1700, 1800, or 1900. However, Leap Day did appear on the calendar in 2000. It was celebrated—at least by me—in 2000. When I say celebrated, I mean minimally so. As with my birthdays going back to 1982, I wasn’t in a house I called home between 1980 and 2004. I was otherwise occupied, busily pursuing a life of adventure.

This year, I will be in a house I call my home. I will be celebrating my infrequent birthday with a few friends in this house. However, I will not be celebrating on my birthday—that would be too customary for my life—opting instead for a small gathering of friends on Saturday, 2 March 2024. Doing so will allow my friends to travel to my home on the weekend.

This is a no-gifts-allowed gathering. I have accumulated plenty of material possessions in my life so far. I feel no need to gather even more things. Partner Pauline will prepare a meal, which will be followed by dessert. As you can probably imagine, the dessert will include ice cream.

So, there you have it. Call me a Leapling. I’ve been called much worse.

If your invitation was lost in the mail ether, feel free to crash the party.

In fact, consider this your invitation, with my apologies for the short notice.

What this means, is that you’re not crashing the party at all.