Forever young

Today, sophomore Caitlin Moloney will be turning 5-years-old.\nBecause of leap years, she’s been alive for 20 years but will only be celebrating her fifth birthday Friday.\nMoloney said people tend to pity her because her birthday only falls once every four years. She said her teachers used to ask her to explain why her birthday was only every so often.\n“It was depressing,” she said.\nShe explained that during the last 20 years of her life, she’s had multiple awkward encounters as a leap year baby.\n“The bank won’t accept my birthday,” Moloney said. “I’m born on February 28 to them.”\nMoloney said people are constantly asking her if she is allowed to drive – because she hasn’t had 16 birthdays.\n“People say, ‘No, you’re four,’” she said. \nWhen she was born, her father begged the doctor to change her birthday on her birth certificate to March 1 because she was born less than an hour before midnight. But her father was unable to convince the doctor to change it.\nDespite only having four “real” birthdays in the last 20 years, Moloney said there’s only one way to celebrate today.\n“Whatever, I’m getting a princess birthday,” she said.\nMoloney isn’t the only IU student who has to deal with friendly ridicule on her birthday. Actually, 25 students currently enrolled at IU have leap-year birthdays, according to a representative from the Office of the Registrar.\nSophomore Derek Finley, who is also turning five this year, said he is used to getting made fun of about his birthday.\n“I get teased by my friends,” Finley said. “(They) tell me I’ll be 84 before I can legally drink.”\nEven though his friends have picked on him, they’re not the only ones who have embarrassed him. For his last birthday, Finley’s mother sent out birthday invitations for his party. The invitations said the birthday party was for a 4-year-old, except his mother never clarified that Finley was actually turning 16. \n“I got baby clothes, pacifiers, little Tonka trucks,” he said. “Nothing I could use.”\nIn a strikingly similar situation, graduate student Alicia Keebaugh had a fourth birthday when she turned 16-years-old. She received sidewalk chalk and Barbie dolls as gifts, most of which she gave to charity. Now that she’s turning six, leap years are no longer an embarrassment.\nBut that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had her share of problems with having a birthday that comes every four years.\n“I can’t apply at Borders. I tried to do that, and it told me my birthday wasn’t valid,” she said. “Microsoft Office would not accept (Feb. 29) as a valid day.”\nBut the history of embarrassment goes back much further than fourth and sixth birthdays.\nSophomore Quinn Cosgrove only really remembers his first birthday – turning 4-years-old. His mother sent out birthday invitations that read, “Leaping Lizards!” Despite the humiliation, he said he still likes leap years.\n“I think it’s pretty cool,” Cosgrove said. “I’m 19, going to be five.”\nLike Cosgrove, Keebaugh has learned to embrace and make the most of a birthday that is only every so often. Keebaugh is a part of The Honor Society of Leap Day Babies. The society is dedicated to making Feb. 29 “Leap Day,” a day for all of the people who have leap year birthdays. \nOn the off years, Keebaugh usually celebrates her birthday on Feb. 28, which she said sometimes “sucks.”\n“On my 21st birthday, I went out on Feb. 28, and they wouldn’t let me drink until March 1,” Keebaugh said. “I was pretty angry.”\nEven though some students recall being embarrassed on their birthdays, others treat their leap-year birthday as they would any other normal day.\n“People will always make fun of you,” sophomore Andrew Kim said, quoting comments such as, “Oh, you’re big for your age!” \nBut Kim said having a leap-year birthday is “all right” because he gets to celebrate on both Feb. 28 and March 1 on the off years.\n“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “There were three other high school students who had leap-year birthdays.”\nJust like Kim, sophomore Valerie Painter had no embarrassing leap-year birthday stories. She said she doesn’t receive special presents on leap years and usually her birthday rituals are the same every year.\n“I’ll probably go somewhere and party,” Painter said.\nAlthough Feb. 29 may seem like an annoyance to some and a technicality to others, without it, the calendar would be out of sync, said Haldan Cohn, IU astronomy professor. Because the earth takes 365.25 days to orbit the sun, calendars include the extra day every four years to make up the difference.\n“Without leap year, spring would start earlier,” Cohn said. “You wouldn’t notice it right away, but every 100 years, the seasons would start 25 days earlier.” \nSo to those 25 IU students born today, have four times the fun because Feb. 29 won’t come again for another four trips around the sun.