Leap Day

I'm going to remember as many details as I can about the Leap Days of my life. But since there aren't that many of them, there's not a lot to remember.

2012. I remember it snowing and I was thinking, "It's fitting for it to be snowing, since it's still February." But then I thought about how it could just as easily be March 1, and that our month designations are totally arbitrary. Since I could eat anything I wanted (since the day only happens once every four years), I bought some gummy worms from a vending machine in the JFSB before my editing class. That night, I told my roommate Bryton that I could eat anything I wanted, so if he had any candy he wanted to get rid of, he could give it to me. He went to his cupboard and pulled out a bag of "Sweet and Sour" jelly eggs (candies with tart sugary stuff, like Sour Patch Kids) and said I could have them. They were from the previous Easter. I ate a bunch of them while I did homework on my bed, but they were kind of stale. I told Bryton that I was excited that in three weeks' time that I could eat Easter candy again. I debated saving the eggs until that time, but I threw them out that night when I was done with them because they were stale. I asked Bryton if he wanted them, but he was fine with me throwing them out.

2008. There was an elderly couple, the Baumps, who were inactive but friendly. We would visit them occasionally, and on this occasion they had some friends over. These friends said they had been talking with missionaries from another area just recently. They lived next door to the house in our area where the missionaries had lived for years until a few months earlier. They said that they wished we missionaries would live there again. Their new neighbors threw lots of loud, wild parties (think alcohol, etc.) with all sorts of people showing up, and even police would end up showing up. I think they said that these parties would go on even when the neighbors' kids were there. We asked these friends of the Baumps if we could talk more with them about the gospel, and I think we arranged a time to meet there at the Baumps' again the following week. That night we went to the Northpointe Ward pinewood derby. We just went at the beginning to try to meet and talk to some people. We met some people who had multiple piercings. They were friendly, but we didn't get to talk much to them. After they had walked away, we asked someone who they were. He told us that the woman is the daughter of the Relief Society president and the man was her boyfriend. Then he told us that they lived in the house where the missionaries used to live. Elder Chun looked at me and started laughing.
This is my journal entry for the day: "Today we stopped by the Baumps, a less-active family, and their non-member friends who live next to where the missionary house used to be in this area. The friend said she liked having the missionaries next door, much better than their current party animal neighbors, who are noisy and frequently have police showing up.

"Then we went to a pine wood derby and there were people we didn't recognize who had piercings. We asked ward members who they were, and they said, 'She's Sister Schurtz's [Relief Society President] semi-active daughter and her non-member boyfriend. They live in the old missionary house.' We immediately started laughing.
[At this point I wrote in a squiggly font to indicate that I was thinking of something that happened in the past, like they do the swirly screen in movies before a flashback.]
<flashback font>Sunday, February 29, 2004.
The next time we have leap day, I'll be on my mission.</flashback font>
I couldn't fathom that four years ago. And here I am. 

2004.  It was a fifth Sunday, and my dad was talking about how utterly unusual it was to have a fifth-Sunday lesson in February. My cousin Shane, who was born on Leap Day, and his wife Sarah came to our house and we played games. They talked about how there had been a party for Shane in which he got gifts that a six-year-old would get, including a Spongebob t-shirt. My mom said, "Should we tell them what Spongebob thing you have?" and I averted an embarrassing situation by saying "Cards" (which was true). I think the rest of my mom's family came over. We had soda, which I drank since it was the special occasion of Leap Day. I kept thinking about how crazy (and I thought sad) it was that I would be on my mission the next Leap Day.

2000. You would think that since this day only happens once every four years, I would do a better job of remembering it. But nope, I don't remember anything that happened this day.

1996. I remember my dad coming home from work. I talked about how it was Leap Year, and he, in his typical silly manner, asked if we should do some leaping. I had a ridiculous mental image of us going outside and jumping ("leaping") up our rock path.