Shen's Birthday Article

Mr. A's sister was a feature in her local paper. Her birthday is February 29th and her neighbor wrote the story about her. It was a huge event for the family, we received several emails regarding it!

Every four years, a few events are worth celebrating n presidential campaigns, the summer Olympics and Shenille Harmon’s birthday. Friday marks the seventh time she’s actually had birthday cake on the day she was born. While most offer sympathy for her leap year misfortune, she is smart enough to take advantage of it.“I like to celebrate on the twenty-eighth and the first for good measure,” she said. “My husband may grumble, but I remind him my birthday is the day after the twenty-eighth and the day before the first, so it’s always a two or three-day thing.”Shenille’s uncle is also a Leapling so they “call and wish each other ‘Happy Birthday’ at least every four years,” she joked.

Shenille’s mother watched the calendar in trepidation as her pregnancy extended beyond her due date giving her daughter the same seemingly unfortunate birthright as her brother.“She told me she just hoped I wasn’t born on the twenty-ninth,” Shenille said. As a result, “My parents tried really hard to compensate.”She remembers two extravagant surprise parties especially one when she was six years old that included a singing telegram from an oversized monkey.“It was a little embarrassing,” she said. “And I did not want to sit on the monkey’s lap.”During a leap year in high school, Shenille was called down to the principal’s office with other Leaplings.“There were two or three of us with the same birthday. We were nervous and had no idea why we had to see the principal,” she said. “But they thought it was funny to bring us in and gave us some sort of card … it was kind of weird.”Shenille said there might be one person in the world who is jealous of her leap year birthday n her sister.“My sister’s birthday is six days after mine. I always felt bad for her because I’m sure she felt slighted,” Shenille said. “She never had the surprise parties or got her own birthday cake because we just had mine. But I think they might be a little better about that now, I’ll have to ask her.”With her mother’s birthday on Halloween and her father’s birthday on the Fourth of July, “We were never normal about how we celebrated,” she said.Now with small children of her own, Shenille will most likely honor her seventh true birthday with simplicity.“We’d like to think we’ll go out to a nice restaurant or something, but in reality with our young kids, we’ll probably just stay home.”

Reporter Stacie Duce can be reached at 363-3300 or sduce@ravallirepublic.comLittle known “Leapling” facts• There are five Fridays in February 2008 n the month begins and ends on a Friday. Between 1904 and 2096, leap day occurs on the same day of the week every 28 years, so the last time February had five Fridays was in 1980 and next time will be in 2036.• The chances of a leap birthday are 1 in 1,461 n long odds for getting the short end of the stick. Imagine waiting four years for your real birthday and hearing endless jokes about being 3 when you’re really 12.• The longest time between two leap years is 8 years. The last time this happened was between 1896 and 1904 and it won’t happen again until 2096 to 2104.• According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are about 200,000 Americans born on Feb. 29 and 4.1 million people worldwide.• Norway’s Henriksen siblings are recognized by the “Guinness Book of World Records.” The three siblings were born on three consecutive leap days. Heidi Henriksen, 1960; Olav Henriksen, 1964; and Leif-Martin Henriksen, 1968.• The Keogh family has three consecutive generations born on Feb. 29. Peter Anthony was born in Ireland in 1940; his son Peter Eric was born in the United Kingdom in 1964; and his granddaughter Bethany Wealth was born in the United Kingdom in 1996.• The Worldwide Leap Year Festival is a four-day event hosted every four years in Anthony, N.M. and includes a parade, golf tournament, carnival and a birthday breakfast and dinner.SOURCES: http://www.leapyearcapital.com/, www.leapzine.com/FamousLeapies.htm, www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html, inventors.about.com, findarticles.com, marriage about.com, http://www.leapyearcapital.com/