Michelle Basch, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Feb. 29 is finally here — a funny extra day that gets tacked on to the calendar every Leap year.
Most people don’t even notice that Leap years have 366 days, but for some it is extra special.
“I just use it as an excuse to go a little extra crazy every four years,” says Caitlin Kovalkoski who lives in Arlington, Va.
She was born on Feb. 29, and is turning 28 years old. But in Leap years, she is just 7.
“Because I very much enjoy Disney movies and the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I very much enjoy celebrating my Leap year birthdays,” she jokes.
Her friends get a kick out of her unusual birthday, as well.
“I get cards on my actual Leap year birthdays, the ones from the kids’ section of Hallmark like ‘You’re 7 Now,'” she says. “And people bring the number seven candles to put on birthday cakes.”
This year’s celebration involved a trip to a bowling alley with some friends last weekend.
During non-Leap years, she celebrates her birthday on Feb. 28. Strangely enough, that’s her boyfriend’s birthday.
“We have this running joke that I take his birthday three out of four years, and every once and a while I’ll give him his own day,” Kovalkoski says with a laugh.
The year she was born, the hospital was offering a prize to the parents of the first baby born on Leap day.
“I still hear about how I was the second born that day, so my parents said that from a very early age I was very stubborn and did things on my own time,” she says.
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