e e r F
news/advertiser Wednesday March 11, 2020
Contact The Chronicle Phone: 503-397-0116 chroniclenews@ countrymedia.net
THIS WEEK SAVE MONEY
Save the date March 12th and 13th
Contact The Chief
Phone: 503-728-3350 chiefnews@ 05-02-12 1x9D SootBusters:Layout countrymedia.net 05-02-12 1x9D 05-02-12 1x9D SootBusters:Layout SootBusters:Layout
The The “Soot “Soot Busters” Busters” Inc. Inc. Fireplace Shop &
Truckload Meat Sale
1 1 1
4/30/12 4/30/12 4/30/12
11:31 AM 11:31 11:31 AM AM
1111 Page 1 Page 1 Page 1
Columbia Blvd, St Helens, OR 97051 • 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. • (503) 397-2288
Leap Day babies celebrate
Fireplace Shop Chimney Fireplace Services Shop & & Chimney Services 1370 Col.Services Blvd. Chimney 1370 Col. 503-397-0390 1370 Col. Blvd. Blvd. 503-397-0390 503-397-0390 WOOD, PELLET,
WOOD ,, PELLET WOOD PELLET,, GAS FIREPLACES GAS FIREPLACES GAS & FIREPLACES INSERTS & INSERTS COMPLETE CHIMNEY & INSERTS * CLEANING SERVICES
COMPLETE CHIMNEY COMPLETE CHIMNEY * PIPE REPAIRS ** CLEANING SERVICES CLEANING SERVICES REPLACEMENT ** PIPE REPAIRS PIPE REPAIRS REPLACEMENT REPLACEMENT
Photo courtesy of Becky Bean
Magpie and Finn.
Originally published in The Chronicle Vol. 138 March 4, 2020
www.thesootbustersinc.com
Repairs * Most Brands Repairs ** Most Brands Repairs Most Brands Vacuum Bags Vacuum Bags & Belts Vacuum Bags & Belts Kirby Repair & Repair Belts Kirby Center Kirby Repair 1370Center Col. Blvd, Saint Helens Center
503-397-4495 503-397-4495 503-397-4495
1370 1370 Col. Col. Blvd, Blvd, Saint Saint Helens Helens 1370 Col. Blvd, Saint Helens
S U B S C R I B E
LOCAL NEWS LOCAL SPORTS LOCAL ADVERTISING The Chronicle is your best
local news source Stay informed about all the local stories that matter most to YOU by subscribing to
T O Call: D (503) A 397 the Chronicle
Y
0116
CHRISTINE MENGES chronicle2@countrymedia.net
This past Saturday, the world had a Leap Day, or an extra day added to February, Feb. 29. Most years, February ends on the 28th. But once every four years, the month gains an extra day. The reason why has to do with how the earth revolves around the sun. While people tend to think of years as being 365 days long, in reality it takes the earth 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to make a full revolution. If calendars didn’t account for those extra five-ish hours, the seasons would eventually go out of whack. That’s why, to account for the discrepancy, an extra day is added (more or less) every four years. For most people, the extra day is just one more day in the calendar year. For those born on the date, it’s a bigger deal. While most people have a 1 out of 365 chance of being born on any other calendar date, being born on Leap Day has a probability of 1 out of 1,461. This means that “leaplings,” as they are known, comprise less than 0.07 percent of the world’s population. If those odds weren’t crazy enough, even more mind-boggling is the fact that there are two sets of fraternal twins in Columbia County born on this date. One pair just celebrated their fourth or “first” birthday. The other just turned sixteen, or “four.” Finn and Magpie The first set of twins were born to Becky Bean of St. Helens, and their names are Finn Bean, a boy, who was born at 4:26 p.m., and Magdalena, or “Magpie” Bean, a girl, who was born at 4:32 p.m. on Leap Day of 2016. This year, they celebrated their “first” or fourth
birthday. For them, it’s the first of many more birthdays that they will only be able to celebrate on the actual day once every four years. What’s more, Becky said, it’s the last Leap Day birthday on a Saturday, until their 32nd birthday. Becky said her twins’ birth was not planned for Leap Day at all. “It was supposed to be one baby, born in like, April,” Becky said, “And then they came a month early.” Finn and Magpie, the youngest of Becky’s four children, who have so far been celebrating their birthday on Feb. 28, are too young to understand the concept of having a birthday on Leap Day, Becky said. “They’re like, ‘we have a birthday every year,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no no. This is the special birthday,’ and they’re like, ‘they’re all special.’ I’ve tried to explain the concept, but all they hear is ‘birthday,’” Becky said. While the children themselves may not yet understand, Becky said she was very excited to celebrate and sing Happy Birthday to the twins on their actual birthday. For leaplings, myriad freebies and special deals exist for those born on this special day. On Leap Day, Becky took her twins to BuildA-Bear Workshop, which offers a special deal to leaplings where they get to build a teddy bear for $2.29. She also took them to Olive Garden, which gives leaplings a deal where they can get four desserts in order to make up for the other birthdays they had to skip. Because Becky has twins, they got eight desserts, which means she and her other kids were able to indulge in all of the sweetness. Additionally, Becky said she’s found a few hotels that offer free stays for those born on Feb. 29, although none are local. But along with freebies come extra headaches and frustrations. Becky joined a Facebook group for leaplings, the “Honor Society of Leap
Year Day Babies,” which has a little over 3,000 members. Through that group, Becky found other leaplings who have shared different difficulties they have faced because of their birth date. “There seems to be a lot of frustration with the computer system,” Becky said. This often happens when leaplings need to fill out web forms, which often don’t offer Feb. 29 as an option, or don’t recognize it as a valid birth date. “Like, hey, it’s 2020. We can do all these amazing things. We can ask the robot in our house to vacuum. We can ask the other robot how to make pancakes. But we can’t make a little dropdown slot for number 29 which is a legitimate date,” Becky said. “The frustration part is all new to me, so it should be interesting.” Frustrations aside, Becky was keen to celebrate, as she likely will be every year. At home, Becky threw a small party with a few family members and friends. Finn and Magpie got two different cakes for their birthday, with Finn getting an Avengers cake, and Magpie getting a cake featuring Elsa, the main character from the Disney movie “Frozen.” Becky said she doesn’t usually like throwing parties, and intentionally kept this one small because she assumes her kids will want to go all out four years from now when they turn eight. As her kids get older, she also hopes to see other businesses also offering freebies. “I’m hoping that other businesses will see that and maybe come up with a special every four years to get people to go in and I’m going to take advantage of that times two if they let me,” Becky said. Abigail and Helen Another set of leapling twins turned 16 this year, although it was only their fourth birthday on the actual day. Abigail Connell, born at 2:08 a.m. and Helen Connell, born at 2:09 a.m.
Helen and Abigail.
on Feb. 29 of 2004, were born to Bridget Connell, and, just like Finn and Magpie, their birth on this unique date was completely unplanned. “They were actually due April 4 of 2004, so they were five weeks early,” Bridget said. Even more interesting is that Bridget went into labor on Feb. 27, and her C-section was planned for 10 p.m. on Feb. 28. However, she was bumped for an emergency C-section, and didn’t end up getting her epidural until 1 a.m. on Feb. 29. “I didn’t really think it was going to happen, but the universe had a different story for me,” Bridget said. While it might seem surprising that two sets of twins are born on the same date in close proximity to each other, to Bridget, she’s found the happening is actually quite common. “There’s a little bit of family history here,” Bridget said. “My dad’s brother was a Leap Day baby.” Bridget also joined the same Facebook group as Becky, and on that group she’s found numerous twins and triplets who share a Leap Day birthday. According to Bridget, there are also times when as many as six people in a family will have a birthday on Leap Day. “So it’s more common than you think it might be,” Bridget said. For Abby and Helen, one of their favorite parts of being born on Leap Day is simply the fact that it can make for an interesting ice breaker. “It’s just kind of fun, and it’s fun to see how people react to it, everyone thinks it’s so cool, it’s just kind of a fun bonus to my life,” Abby said. Helen said she’s been able to bond with other people born on the day. “My favorite thing is when you find other people also born on Leap Day. I mean, we all want to fit in in a certain way, but we want to stand out also,” Helen said. “It’s a way to bond with other people and get them to know you better.”
Photo courtesy of Bridget Connell
If there are any downsides to being born on the date, it’s that sometimes important milestones, like their upcoming 18th and 21st birthdays are not on the actual day, meaning they have to wait a little bit longer to take part in voting, drinking, or any other perk that comes with the age. Sometimes it means friends or family members will forget their birthday. But mostly, Abby and Helen said they do not see a lot of downsides to having a birthday that comes around once every four years. One interesting anecdote that stands out in particular for the twins happened during their 12th birthday, when their math teacher, who hated birthdays and never celebrated them, made a big deal about the fact that twins in his math class had a birthday on Feb. 29. “He gave a shoutout to us, and he made us do a bunch of math problems, about being born a twin and born on Leap Day and being in a math class with someone who was born on Leap Year,” Helen said. This year, the twins got cards from some of the teachers at their school, and overheard teachers bragging about how cool it was to have twins at the school born on Leap Day. However, there was no huge celebration, and teachers definitely didn’t cut back on homework, Helen said. They also had a birthday party this year with about 10 people, which they were able to celebrate on the actual day. Usually the twins celebrate their birthday on Feb. 28. The twins’ other mother, Nyx, who moved in when Abby and Helen were 6, and who was not available for the interview, also has fun with the twins’ birthday, and doesn’t see a downside, according to Bridget. “The one thing I’d say is she came into this relationship knowing we had Leap Day twins, she had the choice to run, but she didn’t” Bridget jokingly said.