For most people, this Thursday will come and go without much consequence. 

Some might barely look at their calendar, while others might erroneously date their documents or other work as March 1.

Many individuals, however, have a special event to celebrate on Feb. 29 – made all the more important as it only rolls around for them every four years.

The most obvious of these celebrations is a Leap Day birthday, with quite a few people living to see 80 years go by while only just hitting their 20s themselves.

Marjorie Klotz is one such local individual blessed with a particular sort of youth. This year, she’s been looking forward to finally celebrating her 18th birthday after a long 72 years of waiting.

Klotz shared some of her experiences with having a Leap Year birthday, noting that, for some folks, tacking an extra 24 hours onto February seems like an impossible concept.

“My experience has been most people don’t really realize what a Leap Year is,” Klotz said. “They’ve never experienced not having a birthday on a calendar. It really sort of goes over their head. I’ve been told by a cashier one day when I had to renew my driver’s license that I needed to have the correct date put on there because there’s no 29 of February. And I tried to explain to her what a Leap Year was, and that didn’t really register.”

Growing up, Klotz found herself celebrating her birthday alongside two of her three siblings who were born earlier in February.

Per her recollection, her 16th birthday was the only one that was especially remarkable.

Klotz also recalled that she had one or two neighbors who shared her birthday growing up, though they too didn’t seem to receive much fanfare on Feb. 29.

Allen Mueller, 56, is set to enjoy his 14th birthday this Thursday.

Like Klotz, Mueller was also lucky enough to know someone who shared his birthday: a classmate.

When it comes to birthday celebrations, Mueller said his family sometimes pushes to have a bigger event when during a Leap Year.

As for other years, he said that he tends to keep his celebrations at the end of February. When it’s not Feb. 29, he feels like his birthday is squeezed into a tiny instant at midnight on March 1.

“My dad used to play tricks on me when I was little like ‘Well, we’re not having a birthday this year,’” Mueller said. “And I’d look at my mom like ‘He’s got me! How do I change that?’”

Having a Leap Year birthday can be strange for anyone, but it’s especially odd for teachers like Mueller who have spent much of their career lecturing to their seniors.

“I’ve been a teacher for 27 years, and it’s always been kind of a neat tool for me when I’m dealing with kids, especially when I was teaching elementary because they would get excited when they got older than I was,” Mueller said.

He shares that experience with Ron Hurst, who will also be celebrating his “18th” birthday this week.

“I taught here in Waterloo at Ss. Peter & Paul School for 33 years, and I used to always kid my students that they were older than I was because I’ve only had a birthday once every four years,” Hurst said.

Hurst, stepping into adulthood after 72 years, said he’s having a special celebration as he and his family travel to Florida for St. Louis Cardinals spring training.

He explained that he also keeps his birthday in February each year, with Feb. 29 being a bit more special.

Ron’s wife, retired Gibault Catholic High School Spanish teacher Pat Hurst, also chimed in to say she often used him as an example when teaching dates.

A number of other folks also reached out to the Republic-Times to share their own or a relative’s birthdays.

Among them was Jennifer Pluemer, who said that her grandson Phoenix will be celebrating his very first birthday after he was born in 2020 and has “been full of surprises and shenanigans ever since.”

Folks won’t just be celebrating birthdays this Thursday, however. For those cursed with a poor memory for dates, Feb. 29 can serve as an excellent day for an anniversary.

Such is the case for Dawn and Mitchell Rubemeyer, who got married in 1992 and will thus be celebrating their eighth – or 32nd – wedding anniversary.

Dawn explained that the date was something of a coincidence. After she asked him – Mitchell recalled that she had gotten tired of waiting for him to pop the question – they decided to shoot for a date where they could snow ski for their honeymoon and, using Dawn’s experience working in a florist shop, get hold of flowers when they weren’t terribly expensive.

For the Rubemeyers, their actual Leap Year anniversary isn’t all that big of a deal, though there is a minor contention on when they actually celebrate.

“Mitchell and I disagree on that,” Dawn said. “I say we celebrate Feb. 28 if there is no Leap Year. He says ‘Oh no, it’s March 1.’ It’s a joke for us. If there’s a real anniversary, how we celebrate, this year will be 32 years and there’s no plan.”