Happy Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day!

This 'extra' day won't arrive again for another 1,461 days, so enjoy the uniqueness of our leap year!  Personally I'll celebrate by baking half of a cake because I only have the opportunity to celebrate my half birthday once every four years :)

Many true Leap Day babies take pride in only aging numerically older at one-fourth the speed of anyone born on another day.  Some celebrate on either the day before or the day after or both days in the years without February 29th.

As suggested by the word-visual above, many people take advantage of Leap Day as a time to be bold and courageous by saying "YES" to everything!  Jim Carrey Could do it!  So Can You!

Coming only once every
four years, the next Leap
Day will be in 2016!

Where did the origins of leap day come from though?

We understand a year to be the 365 days it takes the earth to orbit the sun.  Right?  Almost.  Leap day was added to account for the extra partial day à a technical whole year on earth is 365.24219 days long!  As an extra sense of technical thought, if the year is divisible by 100 (1900, 2100) but not divisible by 400 (2000, 2400) then the leap day is skipped!

In the time of Emperor Julius Caesar, the first 'leap day' was created by simply adding an extra 24 hours to February 24.  This was necessary to keep seasons arriving at the same time each year.  Also, during his reign, the Julian Calendar was in use whereas we now abide by the Gregorian Calendar. 

Does the one extra day on our calendar really make a difference though?  

Yes!  While you may not notice a difference or think leap day as necessary, Julius Caesar estimated that without leap day, the calendar would be "a mess.  If you lived to be 90 years old, your birthday would have drifted by three weeks" due to changes in the seasons!  Crazy to think about, Right?

Let me know what you think!  Post a comment below and tell me how you celebrated your Leap Day and said YES!