Leap Day

photo Skip Dickstein/Albany Times Union

In high school Amy and I discovered The Pirate Movie. This was the first time I understood the phenomenon of exploitation when a person claims to be only a quarter of their actual age, by counting their leap-year birthday anniversaries only. If you havent seen this 1982 classic (I use the term classic loosely) based on Gilbert and Sullivans 1879 Pirate of Penzance with Kristy McNichol (and how did we not know she was gay back then) and Christopher Atkins (definitely not gay) its well worth your comedic quota (and you too can appreciate this phenomenon)

So, Christopher Atkins plays a character Frederic . Frederic the pirate apprentice discovers that he is bound to serve the pirates until his 21st birthday rather than until his 21st year.

So here's to Frederic today (and to my cute husband who gave me a Leap Day card this morning)

By the way, according to Wikipedia: For legal purposes, legal birthdays depend on how local laws count time intervals.