Every four years Meritas Health Operations and Compliance Manager Lori Norris and Applications Analyst Ali Tobin celebrate their official birthdays.
Born February 29, Lori and Ali belong to a unique group known as leap year babies. This leap year, Lori turns 13 and Ali will be 11.
The odds of being a leap year baby are just 1 in 1,461. In total, there are only 4 million leap year babies in the world.
Special Celebrations
Both Lori and Ali enjoy the fun that comes with their unusual birthday. Lori remembered a local newspaper featured her when she was a child. On her ninth birthday, her coworkers gifted her with sidewalk chalk, a jump rope and a Donny Osmond CD. “This year I will be a teenager again, so I am excited. I am sure my parents would be super excited about that as well,” Lori laughed.
Ali thinks her parents liked the flexibility to celebrate on any day they picked. “I did feel a little special because of the uniqueness but also a little sad not having a birthday,” Ali said. “As an adult, when I do have a birthday, we make a point to celebrate because it is a rarity.”
Along with the unique date come challenges, such as standardized forms that don’t offer February 29 as a birthday option. Lori quickly realized when enrolling in a retail rewards program to choose February 28 or March 1 as her birthdate. “Otherwise, I only get my birthday treat every four years,” she smiled.
The most common question for Lori and Ali is what day they celebrate. Lori has that figured out. “I don’t pick a day. I just celebrate the entire week, and it works out in my favor,” she laughed.
Fun Facts
- Leap day helps make up for the nearly six hours lost annually from the earth’s rotation around the sun.
- Leapling: someone born on February 29.
- Famous leap year birthdays:
- Gioacchino Rossini - Composer
- Tony Robbins - Motivational Speaker
- Jimmy Dorsey - Jazz Musician
- Ja Rule - Rapper/Actor
- “Women will avoid a planned birth on February 29.” - Lisa McCoskey Meritas Health Pavilion for Women
- Leap year events:
- Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, MA-1620
- Gold Rush began in California-1848
- Sinking of the Titanic-1912
