RAENELL: A BIO IN LEAP YEARS

In Leap Year 1988, I set up a birthday club called Leap Year Babies Limited, The Limited Edition to the Human Race. Although 21 members joined that year, the club grew with each successive Leap Year after I placed ads in newspapers and participated in radio and TV interviews celebrating Leap Year.

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In 1997, Peter Brouwer, founder of the online club Leap Year Baby Honor Society, joined my club as its 75th member, and I joined his as its 38th member. We realized we could combine both clubs into a single great one, so that's when we formed the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies with a little over 100 members. We have now connected with over 11,000 Leap Day babies around the world. It's incredibly cool.

 

People in general, and some from the media, have asked me if doing this "little Internet birthday club," the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, with Peter is therapeutic for me because I didn't get a birthday. Or, they wonder if we can feel each other’s pain over "not getting a birthday." They've even told me we probably feel better about ourselves after we find other Leap Day babies.

 

What they don’t understand is that we do get a birthday. It just happens that it's not on our exact birthdate three out of every four years. But, yes, it does feel good to find people who share being born on the same date as us. We have the most uncommon common birthday on or off the calendar!

 

These days, I jokingly tell people that I suffer from EBS: Empty Box Syndrome. Find out why I say this and more about me from my bio in Leap Years, below. Enjoy!

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Leap Year Day 1960

Happy birth day to me, Raenell Dawn, "born in East L.A." on Leap Year Day. 

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Leap Year Day 1964

1@4 - Aw, my 1st Leap Day birthday! I didn't know it yet, but my fourth year of life would mean I was only 1 in Leap Years!

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Leap Year Day 1968

2@8 - My 2nd Leap Day birthday! The concept of birthdays became clear to my young self as my family celebrated the birthdays of two of my three younger sisters—who were also born in February—February 6 and February 25.

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Every year, our mom put our names on the calendar in the box whose date matched the ones we were born on. So February 6 was marked"Debbie," the 25th had “Cindy,” and the 29th showed “Raenell”—except in the “off” years, those years that are not Leap Years when my name ended up in the empty box after the 28th.

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At the time, I wondered:

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Why isn't my birthday on the calendar?

How come my name is in an empty box?

Where's my number?

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It took several confusing years before I could begin to make any sense of it all. Not only was my actual birthday not on the calendar, but if I was the oldest, why was my birthday last instead of first? But every year when I asked my parents about my birthday, the only answer they could give me was that I was special, but what did that mean? I didn’t feel particularly special. Instead, it seemed almost like my birthday was an afterthought.

 

Of course, matters weren’t helped when, after raising my hand and proudly answering my teacher’s question about knowing anyone born on February 29 (me!), she shook her head slowly and said, “Oh, you poor child.” And the teasing started the very next recess and went on for what seemed to me to be waaaaay. Too. Long.

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There were kids who sang, "You don't get a birthday" in that sing-song style kids do so well. They said things like, "You can't play with us, you're a baby!" or "You're only 2, how could you know?!"

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But once I understood more about Leap Day and Leap Years, I realized I truly was special, both because I was the oldest of my siblings and because I was born on February 29, a day that represents balance and harmony (see Celebrate the Spin). So, now I tell people that I suffer from EBS (Empty Box Syndrome) because my name still ends up in an empty box on the calendar at the end of February in years that are not Leap Years. And that's okay!

 

Leap Year Day 1972

3@12 - My 3rd Leap Day birthday! A fascination with space and astronomy answered some of my questions more clearly, like why I only had 3 birthdays when I’d been alive for 12 years.

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In 1973 I turned 13 but my birth date wasn't on the calendar. Years later I wrote:

There is a girl named Raenell,

who didn't like her birthday very well.

When she turn 13,

she thought it quite mean,

it was her birthday but no one could tell!

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Leap Year Day 1976

4@16 - My 4th Leap Day birthday! Sweet 16 turns 4!!!!

While I was riding on a nearly empty city bus, a little old man in a suit got on and sat next to me. Out of the blue, he asked me when my birthday was. Cheerfully, I said, "February 29th, Leap Year." Looking me straight in the eyes, he smiled and said, "You are very special." And for some reason, I believed him. Maybe he knew I'd be on a mission to get Leap Year Day recognized for what it is! And all these years later, I still remember that man’s words and his beautiful old face. Other Leap Day babies have told me they have had similar experiences.

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Leap Year Day 1980

5@20 - My 5th Leap Day birthday! "Sun Up San Diego" was a morning TV program that held live audience days on Fridays. A couple of my friends, my mom, and I went to the show on Friday, February 29, 1980. I snuck backstage and found the dressing room of the hostess. When I asked her if they were doing anything for Leap Day, she said no, but wanted to interview me during the show. I was so excited and so nervous… And it was awful.
 

I never did watch the interview, but that experience inspired me to search for other Leap Day babies. No one else could understand Leap Day the way those of us born on this day could. But while I understood what it was, I still needed to know why it existed. So I started researching this quadrennial day.

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Leap Year Day 1984

6@24 - It's my 6th Leap Day birthday! Friends in L.A. throw me a birthday party. My 4-year effort to locate other Leap Day babies reveals another one in my own family: a paternal third cousin, Christopher, who was born on my 5th Leap Day birthday. That was really cool. 

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Leap Year Day 1988

7@28 - My 7th Leap Day birthday! And my first year of spreading Leap Year Day awareness to the locals around Hollywood, California, where I lived. Determined to share Leap Year Day with other Leap Day babies, I expanded my search to mass media. Four top radio interviews gave me names and numbers to 21 other Leap Day babies, four of whom attended my celebratory party, two boys and two girls.

 

In addition, with what I could afford, I placed a few ads in local papers and left my business cards where allowed. I even looked up birth announcements in newspaper articles from previous Leap Days on microfiche.