Forever Young: Leap-year babies celebrate rare Feb. 29 birthdays

Wednesday is Lilly Salazar’s fourth birthday, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her.

The Weslaco High School sophomore is at the top of her class, plays softball and volleyball, and wants to be an engineer or a physical therapist. That is all very impressive considering most people are just learning their colors and numbers by their fourth birthday.

“A lot of people, they freak out when they find out that I’m (only 4),” joked Salazar, whose age, if measured by years on earth rather than birthdays observed, is actually 16.

Salazar was born on Feb. 29, a date that only comes around every four years on a leap year.

The tropical year, which calculates the length of the seasons, is actually 365.2422 days long, according to the United States Naval Observatory. Under the Gregorian Calendar, there are 97 leap years every 400 years to make up for the extra fraction of a day.

The scientific reason for leap year is something Cindy Lee Silva-Ozuna enjoys sharing with her students at La Grulla High School. The teacher’s aide celebrates her eighth birthday Wednesday, but she is actually turning 32.

"They think that’s so neat that I’m their teacher and I’m 8 years old,” she said of her students.

Silva-Ozuna said her family always worked to make her birthday special.

"I’m very fortunate to have a loving huge family that has spoiled me since day one,” she said.

On non-leap years, family members call to wish Silva-Ozuna a happy birthday on both Feb. 28 and March 1, giving her two days to celebrate, she said.

Although Salazar enjoys having a rare birthday now, when she was younger she would become sad that she only had a birthday every four years.

“When I was little, I would cry because I thought they forgot about me because my birthday wasn’t on the calendar,” she said.

Silva-Ozuna said that can still be a problem. Sometimes when she has to select her birth date from drop-down menus on computerized forms, it’s not there.

Stephanie Gonzalez, the finance manager at Harvest Christian Academy in Edinburg, said she’s had trouble explaining leap year to her daughter, Jamie who turns 4 on her first real birthday.

“What I have planned to tell her ... is that every four years something special happens, we elect a new president, we have the (summer) Olympics and it’s Jamie’s birthday,” Gonzalez said.

McAllen resident Naachiely Hurtado was not born on leap day, but she calls Feb. 29, 2000, the day she was “born again.” Hurtado was in a harrowing car accident in Tijuana, Mexico, and although she was not wearing a seatbelt and her car rolled over three times in a dangerous part of the city, she came out with minor injuries.

“Every time Feb. 29 comes, I do remember the event and I thank God for letting me live and have my child and all of the things that have happened to me afterward,” she said.

Despite the confusion the rare date can cause sometimes, the “leap day babies” said they are glad to have such a special day to call their own.

“I guess in a way it’s unique and special,” Salazar said.

Salazar won’t have a big party this year because she had a quinceañera last year, but her friends plan to make her day special at school.

Jamie, on the other hand, is going to have a Rapunzel-themed bash this coming weekend, complete with a moon jump, a Rapunzel costume and a Rapunzel piñata, something Jamie talked excitedly about. Jamie even whipped her hair around for a photo to show that it’s growing like the hair of the fairy tale character, who is famous for her long hair that she would let down for her love, a prince, to climb up a tower to see her.

“We’ve had small parties (but) we said we’ll go a little bigger every four years,” Gonzalez said.

Silva-Ozuna’s husband gave her a cake with the number 8 on top. Silva-Ozuna once read in a book about birthdays that people born on Feb. 29 are “forever young,” something she agrees with wholeheartedly.

"I do feel young,” she said. “Because it’s so rare that the date comes, I don’t feel like I’m aging.”

--

Gail Burkhardt covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at gburkhardt@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4462.

--

TWITTER
Follow Gail Burkhardt on Twitter: @GailBurkhardt