2024 Is A Leap Year, And We Want To Hear Your Leap Day Stories

ACROSS AMERICA — 2024 is a Leap Year with an extra day, Feb. 29, tacked on as it is every four years to reconcile Earth’s orbit of the sun and the calendar year.

Our planet’s trip around the sun takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds. Without the adjustment, the start of seasons would slowly begin to shift.

That can lead to some big moments celebrated with extra exuberance because they don’t happen every year, mixed feelings because milestone celebrations only occasionally happen on the anniversary date of their occurrence, or just plain confusion. How do you explain to a 1-, 2-, or 3-year-old why they don’t have a birthday in non-Leap Years?

We’d love to hear your Leap Day stories. Are you or your child a “leaper” — that is, a person born on Feb. 29. The odds of that happening are are about 1 in 1,461. Only about 5 million people worldwide have ever been born Feb. 29, according to History.com. When and how do celebrate the milestone? Did you get engaged or married on Leap Day? What are your Leap Day traditions?

Your answers could be used in a future Patch article. Just fill out the form below.