If this year feels really long, that's because it already is. Today is Leap Day, an extra day that comes along once every four years and placed at the end of the month of the shortchanged month of February.
How About a Day Off For Leap Day?
For those that believe we should get a day off, say “I.” Hey, we probably should. When you signed on to work wherever it is you make a living, they never mentioned you’d have to come in on February 29 did they? That extra day should be rewarded with a day of relaxation, activities, or a drunken night on February 28 if you so desire.
Why Is Leap Day Necessary?
For those that believe Leap Day is unnecessary, you are wrong, unless you want the calendar to be out of whack. Here’s why…It takes the Earth 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (the actual length of a tropical year) to fully orbit the Sun. For all you brainiac show off types that is 365.242199 days. Leap Day makes up for the near six hours we lose every year. If not for that extra day, in 100 years we would wind up losing about 24 days on the calendar.
Leap Day Oddities and Folklore
Birthdays
Another random Leap Day birthday myth…people once thought Leap Day babies would be hard to take care of and/or sickly.
A Lady Asking a Guy for His Hand in Marriage???
We will not get into who started the whole “ladies privilege” thing or we’d be here all day with various histories of cultures that claim to have started it all. You know that one right? Leap Day is the one day where it is supposedly acceptable for a lady to propose marriage to a man. And what guy wouldn’t love hearing that? Fellas, prepare yourselves, if she gets down on one knee and you’re not ready, how do you say no? Just something to think about until she comes home from work. You have all day or your lunch hour to pack your bags and leave that life behind.
And by the way, Amy Adams, no right minded soul will ever forgive you for starring in “Leap Year.”
While this is all very silly….HAPPY LEAP DAY! I guess.