Taking the Leap
For some, it means popping the question. Tying the knot. Putting a ring on it. The leap of faith into engagement, commitment, marriage. Proceeding down that timeworn path that’s oh so right for many, not necessarily for all.
For others, it can be the death-defying step off a bungy-jumping launch, or from a zip line platform over a thousand-foot gorge, or out of a soaring plane into a skydive freefall. The leap into vast open space with gravity the only certainty is a formidable one to embrace.
What do kids play on Leap Day? | Hop-scotch
Still other leaps come to mind, metaphoric and literal. The leap into one’s work, one’s job, one’s studies. We leap into action and into the fray. We’re told to look before we leap before we’re told to take a flying one.
Elevating the artistry of their sport to Olympic heights, gymnasts are judged for their split, side, stride, switch and cat leaps while figure-skaters earn scores for their toe loop, flip, Lutz, Salchow, and Axel.
What do athletes wear on Leap Day? | Jumpsuits.
A search of holdings by the New York Public Library turns up Leap, Frog, Leap! by Douglas Florian, a board book enabling parents and children to join animals in playful adventures. Several novels with titular affinity tell coming-of-age stories of teenage angst while one especially imaginative fiction leaps into the beauty and mystery of Hieronymus Bosch's medieval triptych, The Garden of Delights.
A 2016 film titled Leap! depicts an orphan girl who becomes a ballerina. The ups and downs of the Chinese women’s volleyball team are chronicled in a documentary of the same name without the exclamation mark. Other media filed on the same digital page include albums featuring electronic, hip hop and pop/rock/alternative music by Turning Torso, Rav and James Bay respectively.
Where do people like to eat on Leap Day? | IHOP.
On an industrial front, LeapToDigital.com describes itself as ‘the complete platform for professional contractors.’ Colorado’s Low-income Energy Assistance Program helps eligible hard-working families, seniors and individuals pay a portion of their winter home heating costs. LeapNYC.org promotes access and equity to arts education for urban students. Its acronymic name is derived from its mission to provide Learning through an Expanded Arts Program.
Arguably, the greatest leap of our time was the giant one taken for mankind on July 20, 1969. Inspired by a leap of the imagination ignited at the advent of space travel, that small step for man now leads us toward Mars, our inter-planetary frontier and the next destination as we leap into the future.
What do you tell a hitchhiker on Leap Day? | Hop In
Much has been written on the origins and necessity of the leap year. Also known as an intercalary or bissextile year, this quadrennial event dates back to ancient civilizations. Athenian, Julian and Gregorian calendars each treat the cosmic adjustment with slightly different calculations in an effort to keep the 12 month terrestrial calibration synchronized with the astronomical year so seasons align with annual equinoxes and solstices. Surfacing in years that are a multiple of 4 (except for those evenly divisible by 100, but not 400), the mathematical formula provides no explanation for the upsurge in weddings and proposals that occur on February 29th, leap of faith notwithstanding.
On a personal front, 2024 is the year this former fulltime employee takes the leap into new and uncharted waters as a freelance writer posting serendipitous articles such as this on the one day in four years it has unique resonance.