SNHU student turns 5

By DAN TUOHY, The Union Leader


MANCHESTER – Kristin Moore, a sophomore at Southern New Hampshire University, is celebrating her 5th birthday today.

Moore, who turns 20, was born on Leap Year Day in 1988. There have been five Feb. 29ths since.

"I couldn't imagine it any other way," she said. "I can't imagine celebrating a regular birthday."

For as long as she can remember, her birthday has served as a great ice breaker. Like that time in freshmen orientation, when she and her classmates were asked to tell one interesting thing about themselves.

"I don't mind talking about it," she said. "People are interested in it."

In her extended family, the date is always a time for special celebration and some fun ribbing. Her younger cousins claim they are older, based on her actual birthday only appearing in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and this year.

On Leap Years, she's excited to write her birthday on the calendar, having never grown used to celebrating on just one day.

When she was younger, she said her older brother would be jealous of all the attention, and the multi-day celebration.

"We usually celebrate the whole week," she said.

Moore plans to start the celebration today with friends and later with family. At some point she will dig into her favorite birthday cake, a vanilla confetti cake, and consider a perennial challenge: how best to stretch her birthday into March.

Besides roaming birthday dates, Leap Year Day babies share some challenges over government bureaucracy, such as different dates of birth recorded on birth certificates and driver's licenses.

Moore's driver's license says she turns 21 on March 1, 2009. And while online shopping, she said she has encountered problems when programs ask for her birthday.

These days there are numerous Leap Year clubs, associations and festivals, such as the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, which is making an effort to get Leap Year Day recognized on calendars, much like Groundhog Day.

Like those special days, Leap Year Day has arrived as a marketing holiday.

Among the deals out there, Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford is celebrating Leap Year Day with discounts. Skiers and riders can buy one regular ticket and get a second ticket for just $29, buy two night tickets for $29, or save $29 on a multi-day ticket.

Moore, of Weymouth, Mass., is studying child development with a concentration in business development. She wants to open a child care center sometime after she graduates.

The young woman with one green eye and one blue eye says she feels lucky, and her birthday suggests as much.

The odds of being a Leap Year Day baby are about 1 in 1,500, according to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies. An estimated 200,000 Americans share a Feb. 29 birth date. With the Gregorian calendar, a Leap Year comes every four years to synchronize the calendar year with the time it takes for the earth to orbit the sun. Most years divided by four are leap years, with rare exception.

"I don't know," Moore said laughing. "I still don't understand it to this day."