HAPPY LEAP YEAR DAY!

When I was a little girl, I was utterly fascinated by the idea of Leap Year. What I really couldn't figure out is what happened to your birthday (and the all-important presents) if you were born on February 29th.

Were you really only 2 years old when you were "really" 8 years old? Did having your birthday on March 1st really make up for things?

Trust me, when you're 7 or 8 years old, some things really stick with you and for some reason Leap Day kept me in a state of curiosity and angst for quite some time.  Did you not get a birthday party??

According to this really groovy website, Leap Year Day was really a time to party!  Leap Year Day balls used to be a really big deal.

For some reason today, we think of these as Sadie Hawkins Dances--but Sadie Hawkins Day is November 15th.  The only similarity, it seems, is that the ladies get to ask the men to dance--or to get married!  Asking a man on Leap Year Day to marry you is a real tradition.

There's a push by the Leap people, as I now think of them, to bring back the Leap Day ball, and I'm with them! February is such a dull, gloomy month and if we can think of another excuse to cheer people up then I say go for it. I'm surprised the card companies haven't figured this out yet.

Anyway, I think we romance-types can help make a come back for all this tradition...It's too late for this year, but I feel a romance anthology coming on.  Surely someone can make me happy with some ideas for that! After all, we have four more years.