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Today is February 29th and we will not have another February 29thuntil 2016. It is a Leap Year where we add an extra day to our Gregorian calendar to account for the mismatch between our calendar and the astronomical and seasonal years. We experience a Leap Year every four years. In these years we have 366 days instead of the standard 365. I learned that the years that are not Leap Years are referred to as “common years”.

an extra day

Apparently some people feel that being born on February 29th is not a good thing and then there is a group who believe it is good luck to be born on this day. An interesting fact from timeanddate.com is that:

“A Norwegian family named Henriksen from Andenes holds the official record of number of children born on February 29. Mrs. Karin Henriksen gave birth to 3 children on consecutive February 29; her daughter Heidi in 1960 and her sons Olav and Leif-Martin in 1964 and 1968 respectively.”http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leap-day-timeline.html

Hopefully they are in the “good luck” camp as it concerns being born on February 29th.

 

Given the leap of the year in 2012 we have 24 more hours to do things than we had last year or that we will have next year. So what are you doing with your extra day this year?

I had not really thought about it before today but now that it is upon us I have been thinking. I am wondering whether and how I should do something to use this extra time in the most efficient and effective way. Or perhaps I should throw efficiency and effectiveness out the window and use this extra time as justification for sleeping in or taking extra time over my daily coffee or maybe I can read a few more pages in the mountain of books that I have the intention of reading before Easter.

As I approach the various deadlines that I have for the assortment of projects I am undertaking over the next few months I can dream that this extra 24 hours will be helpful. However, in reality I will probably not notice the difference that those extra 24 hours will make in my ability to do what I want to do.

So instead I will be content to chill a bit and enjoy these extra hours as a little gift until next time they appear in 2016.

  

Irene McDermott © 2012