Happy Birthday Grandma!

"Leap Day" is February 29, which is an extra day added during a "Leap Year", making the year 366 days long - and not 365 - like a common year. Nearly every 4 years is a Leap Year in our modern Gregorian Calendar. Ever since Leap Years were first introduced over 2000 years ago with the transition from the Roman calendar to the Julian Calendar in 45 BCE (Before Common Era), Leap Day has been associated with age-old Leap Day traditions and folklore.

Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days to circle once around the Sun. If we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours every year.

One of the most popular traditions that has to do with Leap Day, is that women can propose to their boyfriends on this day! This day is also associated with traditional Sadie Hawkins parties where the ladies get to invite the men to a party, instead of vice versa.

One interesting statistic is: one out of every 1500 babies is born on Leap Day! These people have an actual birthday every four years! One such person was my beloved grandmother - Arlie Avenell Earp. Arlie, the daughter of William  and Mary  Neff Flatt,  was born February 29, 1896 near Meno, Major Co., Oklahoma Territory. That area was better known as the "Cherokee Strip." Four years later her family was living north of Stroud prior to the 1900 territory census.

 As a child I remember it was always a fun day...Grandma's actual birth day!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Grandma. It was taken about 1941 in Chandler, OK.