31 Days Has—September?
Did you all enjoy that extra February day? It’s just so useful having an extra 24 hours in what is often the coldest time of the year.
I was so disappointed when I remembered it was a leap year (thanks to my paper calendar, which I have to check daily because the pandemic killed my innate sense of time, days, and dates). That led me to question: Who decided this whole leap year thing?
Off to Google!
As I already knew, leap years happen in years divisible by four. But I didn’t know that’s true unless they are 00 years—they need to be divisible by 400 (so 2000 yes; 1900 no).
Does math ever stop? I thought I left it in high school.
Also, science says, according to the Smithsonian Institution, we have to leap because the “common year” is 365 days, but Earth takes a wee bit longer to revolve around the sun—more than five hours, actually—hence the need for an extra day every now and again to compensate. Then, they tell me the leap day actually makes the year too long by 44 minutes (oy) and so that’s why it only happens in years divisible by four.
All this jockeying is so the seasons don’t “begin to drift.” The Farmer’s Almanac online tells me it would take 100 years to significantly disturb the status quo, with February and March ending up as summer in the Northern Hemisphere by then.
And? That’s a bad thing?
The seasons would still happen—Mother Nature does what she does. We’d be the ones who’d have to flex, changing names of things as needed and what not. You know this is all made up, right? We can do whatever we want! And, as Rust Cohle from the only really good season of True Detective said, “time is a flat circle.” Things come and go and come around again. It’s all the same ride with different views from time to time. So why not add some fun and eventually have spring in fall and vice versa?
OK, several websites mention practical things like harvesting and growing seasons, and that makes sense. I like eating as much as the next person, so if we need stability for those things, that’s OK with me. But can we tack an extra day on a month we might enjoy more? It has been added as a chilly day to the end of February since Caesar. He won’t mind.
Let’s add it to September, the best month at the beach, IMHO. Imagine, 31 glorious late summer/early fall days on the sand instead of just 30. That sounds better to me than another day of winter, and I say this as someone who loves winter. But I love the ocean more. And I hate listening to the winter haters complain about an extra day of frigid temps in February. It happens all month long every year, and for an extra day in leap years. Thanks, Caesar.
Of course, someone has suggested leap years should be eliminated. The Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar, aimed at making business and financial institutions’ lives easier, advocates for adding February 29 and 30 to every year and then adding a full week every fourth December to keep the seasons where they are now.
Every date of every year would fall on the same day of the week forever, so your birthday would always be on the same day. I don’t think I like that. What if my birthday falls on a day I don’t like? I’m not a big fan of Wednesday, just sitting there in the middle of the week not really doing anything, not getting to the weekend any faster. And I never work on my birthday. What if it naturally then falls on a weekend when I’m off? Where is my PTO joy for my special day?
Apparently, the Hanke-Henry people are not in sync with a lot of working people though: they want to start every year on a Monday. For those who have New Year’s Day off, great. For others? It’s working a holiday and on a Monday. Forever. Uh—no.
If we must leap, then fine, add another day to my year, but let’s discuss moving it, shall we? I’m sure I’m not the only one who would prefer that it be added to a month in a warmer season—for sun, sand, and ocean purposes. If not September, then I suggest May, the birth month of one Kermit the Frog, Muppet extraordinaire and expert leaper. If we’re going to leap, what could be a more appropriate reason than that? ▼
Freelance writer Tara Lynn Johnson wants longer Septembers on Rehoboth’s beaches in years divisible by four. Visit her any day of the week/month/year at taralynnjohnson.com.
Photo by Joel DeMott on Unsplash