Leap Day

Today marks my fifteenth leap day. They started when I was two. Every four years since then, these 366-day-years have meant very little to me. No offense to those Leapers who enjoy the celebration. But then, Leap Year is an important plot element in Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.

Gilbert & Sullivan's operettas are one of my guilty pleasures. Some have been lucky enough to be present when I extemporaneously break out into a piece from the HMS Pinafore or the Mikado. (my rendition of Poor Little Buttercup is sensational)

For those not familiar with Pirate's libretto, the main character, Frederic, is apprenticed to pirates until his 21st birthday. Unfortunately for ol'Freddy, his birthday was February 29. With a birthday every four years, he won't reach 21 until well into his eighties. They just don't write plot twists like that anymore!

Ireland's St. Bridget is also associated with Leap Day. Legend has it that she went to St. Patrick complaining that a woman never gets the chance to pick the man she wants. So Paddy agreed that one day every four years, women could ask men to marry. Traditionally this became Leap Day.

In one of life's strange twists, the St. Bridget tradition morphed with a holiday in Al Capp's Lil Abner. One of my favorite Sunday comics, the crazy colorful characters first attracted me. In later years, the satire caused my chuckles.

The "homeliest gal in the hills" was Sadie Hawkins. Her father, a Dogpatch dignitary, fearful of her living forever with him started Sadie Hawkins day. On this day, women who could chase down a husband could get married. Al Capp's yearly Sadie Hawkins' comic strip fell in November. Somehow these two traditions melded together and February 29 has become a bachelor's bane.

With its connection to an operetta, an Irish saint and a comic strip, I have convinced myself that February 29 has become one of my most-liked days. I'm a leaper! Wouldn't you like to be a leaper too? as ever - BB

"Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform/And tell you ev'ry detail of Carataucus's uniform/In short, in matters vegetable, animal and mineral/I am the very model of a modern Major-General." - from The Major-General's song from Pirates of Penzance