Denver woman celebrates special Leap Day birthday: "I've been alive 36 years but only had 9 real birthdays"
They say age is just a number and for Alexis Lopez, that certainly rings true.
"It's pretty crazy when people do a double take on my I.D. and look at it," she said with a laugh.
Lopez is a leap year baby, or "leapling," and is celebrating her birthday this Leap Day. It only comes every four years.
"I've been alive 36 years but only had nine real birthdays," said Lopez.
Lopez was born and raised in Denver and as a child, she says the unique birthday came with its challenges.
"Growing up, my brother and sister would always be able to write their birthdays on the calendar, and I'd go to write mine and there was no Feb. 29 there. As a kid, you're confused. And my mom would always tell me, it makes you a special person because you really don't meet anybody with that birthday."
Lopez quickly embraced what made her so rare.
"I've only known two people my whole life that have the same birthday. Everyone has their unique thing, like people born on New Year's or Christmas or Valentine's Day, but a leap year birthday, to me, that stands out a little bit more."
In fact, she's learned to enjoy it fully.
"People would say, 'oh, you can celebrate it on Feb. 28 or March 1. So, I took it upon myself to say I'll celebrate both days, then because I don't get a birthday every year," she said.
"I try to make a big deal of it," she elaborated. "And they're like, 'oh it's just another day.' But when you're born on leap year it's not just another day. On Feb. 1, I say, 'OK everybody, my birthday is in 28 days' and they start getting social media notifications about it. I take birthdays pretty seriously."
Among those helping Lopez celebrate her birthday is her family, of course.
"When I first went on a date, and I met my husband and I told him 'I'm only eight.' You don't want to hear that your wife is eight years old," she chuckled again. "And it's been the most fun explaining it to my daughter who is eight. And I told her I'm going to be nine. We're the same age technically, so she says, 'if you're eight and I'm eight, you can drive and I can drive too!' and I said 'no, that's not how that works.'"
And when it comes to fellow leap year babies, she wants them to be proud as well.
"I want them to feel just as special as I do. You are unique," she said.
