The "Friends My Age, But Yet They're Not Old As I!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Same as most every other day of the year, except days when I am on vacation and have to do nothing but relax on the beach.  For the husband of one of my wife's friends, today is a very special day, since today he turns 19 years old.  So why would my wife have a friend whose husband is only 19 years old?  Well, it's because he is really 76 years old, but being born on February 29, he is officially 19 years old today.  How would you like to be born on February 29 and miss all those birthday parties and birthday gifts?  Now, my guess is that most parents wouldn't allow that to happen and celebrate birthdays once a year even though their child may've been born on Leap Day.  Leap Day falls every four years due to a few quirky calculations based on the length of time it takes the earth to orbit the sun.  Instead of taking 365 days, it takes 365 1/4 days each year to orbit the sun.  And, after 4 years time, there is one extra day in the equation which adds up to February being assigned an extra day.  And, why is it always February?  I have absolutely NO clue!  All I know is that if we didn't have February 29 every four years, we might eventually have winter in August and summer in December, or something crazy like that.  This Leap Year thing all started in 1582 when Pope Gregory XVIII introduced the Gregorian calendar.  His version of the calendar helped solve the problem of the shifting days and months.  The Gregorian calendar works like this: 

• Every year that can be evenly divided by 4 is a Leap Year EXCEPT:
• Years that can be evenly divided by 100 (centuries) are not leap years, But:
• Years that can be divided by 400 are Leap Years.

You understand all of this?  Really doesn't matter, since it'll never change in your lifetime.  I recently saw a bit of math that may help you understand what I have just written for you.  It goes like this:

This year is 2020.  But what about 2021?   2020 ÷ 4 = ______

Therefore, 2020 is or isn't a leap year?

2021 ÷ 4 = _____

2021 will or will not be a leap year because it isn't evenly divisible by 4.

Now that we have Leap Year all figured out, how about a Century.  We celebrated the last year of the century (100 years) and millennium (1,000 years) 20 years ago, in 2000.

So, do you have any idea why they tack the extra day every four years onto February instead of September or maybe June?  It's because it is already the shortest month and an extra day shouldn't make any difference they reasoned.  Now, why do some months have 30 days and some have 31?  Probably a story for another day!  It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.