The last time we saw a February 29 was in 2008 and before that is was 2004. A leap year usually occurs every 4 years, but why?
It has to do with the difference between a solar year and the annual calendar, which were meant to match up. However, the solar year is a bit longer . . . 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, to be exact. That little bit add up each year, and over the course of a century, the difference between the solar year and the calendar year would be 25 days.
It was the Egyptians who were the first to come up with the idea of adding a leap day once every four years and then the Romans followed suit, resulting in Julius Caesar to introduce leap year by adding one day to the last month of the calendar year (February). In 1582, to confuse things a bit more, a slight adjustment was made which omitted leap year three times every 400 years. So if a century year is evenly divisible by 400 it is not a leap year.
This still doesn't stop life from happening on February 29, however, much to the frustration of a few software and Internet giants who didn't account for leap days when developing their product. Microsoft's Excel and Google's Blogger still have some glitches as a result of leap years.
Some people see it as a gift, where people are given one day extra to celebrate life. Some leapers, or people who have birthdays on the 29th, might see it as an opportunity to be able to pick their birthday each year: February 28 or March 1? Others may see it as the time to make or revisit their bucket list.
We are seeing it as an opportunity to pay special tribute to the just under 5 million "leapers" in the world. Having a birthday every four to eight years may keep you young enough but wouldn't be a lot of fun, so we wish all of you a big Happy Birthday. Live it large.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/leap-year-2012-what-will-_n_1293857.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/leapyear2.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/6494541/The-trouble-with-leap-year-birthdays
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