Brent Freeman is turning 9 years old today (Thursday). Not only is he able to work a full-time gig, he also is married and operates a food truck on the weekends with his wife Katie. It is not clear who drives the food truck, Brent or his wife. Brent is tall enough to see over the steering wheel and reach the brakes however.
Clarissa McDaniel will turn 7 today. Turns out she is quite mature for a 7- year-old. She has already finished school and holds down multiple jobs, including dispatcher for the Jones County Emergency Operations Center. She might be considered a child prodigy.
As for Terrel Boger, who will turn 11 today, he looks forward to having his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, which has always been his traditional place to celebrate with friends.
All three are among the five million people worldwide who were born on Feb. 29, also known as Leap Day. Known as “Leaplings,” these folks only have birthdays every four years, since Feb. 29 only occurs that often.
Freeman’s youngest daughter Rosie will turn 9 in April.
“She will pass me up,” Freeman said. “I will become the baby of the family.”
McDaniel said, “Hey, I’m never gonna get old! I have fun with it, my friends will tell me to hush because I am only 5. But I correct them that I am actually going to be 7.”
Boger’s daughter is also 11.
“So I get to go first in Candyland, since I am now younger than her,” Boger said. He is thinking of trying his Leaper age the next time he goes to a buffet, to get the kids’ price.
South Jones student Macie Ishee will turn 4 this year. Her friends like to use her “age” as an excuse to not be able to play specific games with age restrictions. They also like to say she is “not old enough to go on rides at theme parks.”
“I have never tried buying a child’s movie ticket,” Ishee said, “but I definitely have tried to use my ‘age’ to eat off the kids menu a few times. It usually never works but it was funny to at least try.”
Leaper Deshawna Kittler, who turns 11, doesn’t have real big plans. She will hold practice for her 11-year-olds’ girls’ basketball team.
“They will all pass me up in age this year,” Kittler said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The purpose of the added day every fourth year is to keep our calendar aligned with the earth’s actual rotation around the sun. It keeps the seasons from slowly drifting, so that June through August will always be summer, and warm. If it didn’t exist, you actually would end up with Christmas in July one day, albeit a few centuries from now. Now that is some real climate change.
Leap Day is also known in some European countries as “Bachelor’s Day,” the only day it is permissible for women to propose marriage to a man. Leaper Diane May Walters (age 8) says her husband Josh would have liked that, had he known. “He is a little shy at times,” Walters said.
Walters also has a twin leaper sister, Leah May Green. The odds of twins being born on Leap Day are 1 in 50,000, according to LeapYearDay.com.
The sisters were born in the Dominican Republic on Feb. 29, 1992 but their mom convinced the doctor to put March 1 on their birth certificates.
“She said she was not putting us through that for all our lives,” Walters said.
“It's always been a fun time. I wish I could have had a child on Leap Day, but I didn’t. All of mine are normal.”
Green used to go onto herFacebook account every four years to change her birth date to Feb. 29, then switch it back the next three years.
“They only let you do that a certain number of times,” she said. “My friends are always very confused.”
While most will host a birthday celebration on the last day of February, whatever that day might be, a few Leapers have been able to pull a double doozy out of the occasion.
“When there is no Leap Year, we celebrate my birthday on Feb. 28 and March 1,” Sheree Davis said. “I get two cakes and two sets of presents.”
Being born on Feb. 29 is the rarest birth date a person can have. The odds of being born on Leap Day are 1 in 1,451. So for all Leapers out there, enjoy your special day — the one day in the calendar that was added just for you.
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