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She's 96, but celebrating her 24th birthday!

Credit: Brian Johnston/Asbury Park Press
Friends light a candle for 96 year old resident Kathie Taylor who is preparing to celebrate her 24th birthday. She was born on Feb 29th of leap year 1920.

ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- Meg Porter didn’t want to have a baby on Leap Day. The doctor gave her no choice.

“She ended up coming in an emergency C-section,” Porter said. “It was 10:51 at night.”

So Bridget Porter got stuck with a birthday on Feb. 29, a date that shows up on the calendar once every four years. It’s an awkward deal.

“Some (Leap Day) people use March 1 as their birthday and I’m like, that’s kind of my birthday but not really,” said Bridget, a Point Pleasant Borough resident who is celebrating her Sweet 16th -- or is it her fourth? “It’s more special when there’s a 29th.”

There is a 29th this year, and Leap Day people everywhere are loving it.

“I’m so glad to have a whole day that’s really my birthday,” said Tinton Falls resident Kathie Taylor, who is turning 96. “If you can’t make it on the real day, it’s strange.”

Why do we even have a Leap Day? It’s a necessary correction to the Gregorian calendar. A year is measured by the time it takes the earth to revolve around the sun. That span is 365 days and six hours, so an extra 24 hours builds up every four years. Without the added day, the seasons eventually would be off.

There are approximately 4.5 million people in the world who were born on a Leap Day, including 200,000 in the United States. That includes the rapper Ja Rule and motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Leap Day has given us a pope (Paul III) a legendary composer (Rossini) and an astronaut (Jack Lousma).

It also created logistical issues. First, when to celebrate your birthday in the off years?

“It’s much smoother if you just have a regular birthday,” said Taylor, who once celebrated her birthday at the stroke of midnight between Feb. 28 and March 1. “We sang happy birthday and then I said, ‘It’s over, no more birthday.’ It lasted a split second.”

Bridget Porter uses March 1 in the off years.

“Never on the 28th,” her mom Meg said. “She was still in my belly on the 28th.”

The Porters hold a low-key birthday in the off years and throw a party on Leap Years.

“When she was four we did a gymnastics party,” Meg said. “When she was eight, we roller-skated. When she was 12 it was bowling.”

This year they held a Sweet 16 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Bay Head.

“Because I don’t have a party for four years, I always look forward to it,” Bridget said.

The second issue: How old are you, exactly, if you only celebrate a quadrennial birthday?

“I tell people I’m 24,” the 96-year-old Taylor said with a chuckle. “If they don’t guess Leap Year, they think, ‘Gee, something’s the matter with her.”

In off years, Porter jokes that she has fractional birthdays. Last year, at 15, she turned three and three-quarters.

“Some people are like, ‘You’re turning 5 this year,’ and I’m like, ‘No, it’s 4,’” she said. “Don’t skip the math.”

So what did her cake say? In the ultimate Leap Day compromise, it read “Happy Fourth Birthday Bridget, Sweet 16.”

Yes, there were 16 candles. Forgive this Leap Day baby for being unimpressed.

“I don’t care about the candles,” she said. “I just like the cake.”

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