Leaping at a Boston Globe

I really should start looking before I leap.

"Birthdays well worth the wait; Feb. 29 celebrants say joys outweigh complications" February 29, 2012|By Billy Baker, Globe Staff

For leapers, those born on Feb. 29, there are certain nuisances that come with that most unusual of birthdays. The issues are so consistent and persistent that they have been neatly divided into four categories on the website of the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, the cyberhome of all things Leap Day.

First, and most famously, are the issues that arise at birth, mostly due to nervous mothers and superstitious doctors who try everything to avoid a Feb. 29 birth. Some induce early labor; others go so far as intentionally falsifying birth certificates.

 

Then there is the computer conundrum - “When I shop online I’m constantly told my birth date doesn’t exist,’’ said Sheila Howard, a 60-year-old from West Bridgewater who will celebrate her 15th birthday today.

Next on the list are the problems of getting a driver’s license and the suggestion to simply list their date of birth as Feb. 28 or March 1 to make it easier. Most leapers consider the idea appalling.

Finally, the site names that most painful of issues, the rampant teasing in childhood, where there is still such a thing as being too young.

But most leapers agree that the occasional headache is a small price to pay for the privilege of having what they consider the greatest birthday of them all. Their pride is so pronounced that they even have a name for themselves: They are eleapists....

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