A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It's February 29. That's the extra day we get in February every four years. We've asked readers of the Up First Newsletter and npr.org how they'll be spending this leap day.
JASON BOHN: My name is Jason Bohn. I am a leap-year baby. I will be turning 11 years old this year.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Sounds older than 11, and it turns out he was born in 1980. Mr. Bohn is on a cruise to the Bahamas today with others born on a leap day. He did the same thing on the last February 29, which was in 2020.
BOHN: There were 78 leap-day babies, ranging from Rowan (ph), who was turning 1 - who would have been 4 years old - to Grandma Jan (ph). She was turning 19.
INSKEEP: And he says that trip was especially memorable because it came at the leading edge of the COVID pandemic.
BOHN: We got back home, and two weeks later the world shut down. And it was really comforting to have that group of people that we had met on the cruise. It was almost kind of a second family.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, for another listener, today marks the beginning of her second family.
KATHERYN JAGER: My name is Katheryn Jager. And for leap year, my fiance and I are taking the leap. We had our first date on the last leap year. So four years later, we decided it was the perfect day to step into marriage.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeager was widowed in her 40s and says she has a second chance at love with fiance Garrett Smith.
JAGER: Life's very short. Every four years, we get a bonus day. We made the most of the bonus day four years ago, and we'll do it again this time.
INSKEEP: PJ and Cindy Gaynard are also taking the plunge.
CINDY GAYNARD: We got married on February 29, 2004. And every four years, on February 29, we get married again in some unique, fun, interesting way.
PJ GAYNARD: So our first wedding, we got married at a planetarium - second wedding, Vegas with Elvis.
C GAYNARD: And then, third, Malibu Beach.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: Wow. Today they're re-enacting the 1986 movie (singing) "Pretty In Pink." It's Cindy's favorite film, except for the end, when - spoiler alert - Andie picks Blane over her best friend, Duckie. Cindy and PJ are going to put on their own twist to that story.
PJ GAYNARD: We're going to stop the movie early and then get married as Andie and Duckie.
C GAYNARD: Yes, as it should be.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
PJ GAYNARD: We're righting a cinematic wrong.
MARTÍNEZ: There you go.
Now, listener Rachel Nantt is planning to relive recent history.
RACHEL NANTT: I will be having a party with my friends where we go back in time four years.
MARTÍNEZ: They'll dress like it's 2020 and watch movies from that year. For Nantt, it also holds deeper meaning after the pandemic.
NANTT: I look back at young, little Rachel, and she's just so different now.
INSKEEP: Aren't we all?
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