Leaplings celebrate their rare birthdate

Hayden Lake’s Nancy DiGiammarco will be celebrating her 19th birthday Thursday although she was born in 1948, which was 76 years ago. Leap Year babies born on the 29th of February are also referred to as leaplings or leapers.

Feb. 29 is the rarest of all birthdates, which makes sense since it only comes around on the calendar every four years in a month that has the least number of births in the US.

Nancy’s sister, Jennifer Ross, knows how special Leap Day birthdays are, and as the longtime sales and marketing director at Triple Play Family Fun Park, she has a special gift for them tomorrow. Anyone born Feb. 29 can play for free on that date if they’re accompanied by a paid customer.

I’m all for an extra day since there never seems to be enough, but wouldn’t it be great if that extra day came in August, not February?

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March is coming in like a lamb ... a wet, soggy lamb. Don’t be fooled into thinking Mother Nature’s done with winter just yet. I’m pretty sure she has another snowstorm or two up her sleeve before Easter at the end of the month.

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Happy Main Street birthdays today to Don Pischner (86!), Bridgette Lowry, Dave Brubaker, Gary Dagastine, Bob Flowers, Bill Reese, Al Telles, Maurie Bruce, Dean Walsmith, Allison Gerzina and Robin Gerzina. On the 29th day of February, Leap Year babies Nancy DiGiammarco, Boston Smock, Kris Helstrom, Dean Walsmith, Dr. Jim Anderson and Lana Johnson Fensky take another trip around the sun. The first day of March birthdays will be celebrated by Faye Griffiths, Preston Hill, Marina Otter, Lisa Tucker, Connie Chalich, Bud Kobs, Megan Aker, Karen Welts and John Billetz. On Saturday, LeeAnn Cheeley, Conrad Nelsen, Sharon Menti, Rhonda Shippey, Ginny Easterly, Alexander Endo, Randy Hurt and Nickolas Aker blow out their candles. Sari Walt, Rebecca Kilmer, Rich Henning, Jessica Coleman and Gail Kinloch mark another year Sunday. Michael Ward, Sam Williamson, James Steffensen and Jon Newcomb do the birthday dance to start the week. Natalie Eckstein, Becky Funk, Jim Riley, Amy Tolzmann Warker, Jennifer Harbour, Paula Ryan, Nicole Barnhart, Kelly Lattin, Hallie Gennett, Allison Mehan, Stacy Veach, Carly Hall and Matt Matthews put on their party hats March 5.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.