Terry Weed Cormier of Ellsworth plans to celebrate her 12th birthday today with a quiet dinner out with her husband and her parents.

No, she didn’t get married at an uncommonly young (and illegal) age. Cormier is a leap year baby, one of a select fellowship of people whose birthdays come along only once every four years, on Feb. 29.

“I think it’s one in every 1,400 children, or something like that, are born on leap day,” Cormier, who actually will turn 48 today, said in an interview this week. “It’s always been neat to have a leap year birthday. It’s fun to be a little different; you don’t take birthdays for granted as much.”

The Ellsworth woman’s unique birthday was featured in the pages of the Bangor Daily News 44 years ago when she celebrated her first (i.e., fourth) birthday on Feb. 29, 1964.

“I remember my dress was blue and my mother, who didn’t have time to bake, got this huge store-bought cake,” she recalled. “As a kid, I remember thinking, ‘It’s nice to have a real birthday,’ and then the other kids ask you what that means.”

For those who don’t know or need a refresher, the Gregorian calendar is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun, which takes 3651/4 days. To keep the calendar year synchronized with the solar year, an extra day is added every four years to the end of the month of February.

Because of its rarity, leap year day has a plethora of Web sites, “honor” societies and quadrennial events devoted to those who mark Feb. 29 as their birthday. Cormier, however, said that while she’s proud of her birthday, she doesn’t spend much time promoting it.

“It’s always been a conversation starter, sure, but I don’t like to make a big deal out of it,” she said.”

The real question is: When do leap year babies celebrate their birthdays in off years?

“My mother and I always had this argument,” Cormier said. “I always wanted to have it on February 28, but she wanted it March 1. Maybe she wanted that extra shopping day, I don’t know.”

Trina Thayer of Bangor also is a leap year baby and said that when she was growing up, her family tried to convince her that her birthday on nonleap years should be March 1.

“I argue that it should be February 28,” Thayer, who turns 13 (or 52) this year, wrote in an e-mail to the BDN. “I say this because I was born the last day in February, not March.

“My husband always said the reason he married me was because he would only have to remember my birthday every four years.”

Cormier said that when she was growing up, she couldn’t recall any classmates who shared her birthday. A few years back, though, she met a woman at her workplace in Hampden who was born on the same day at the same Bangor hospital. Even more interesting is that they shared their first and middle names, Terry Lynn.

“She doesn’t work with me anymore and I wish I had gotten her contact information,” Cormier said. “There is a brotherhood and sisterhood [among leap year babies]; I think we all have a bond.”

Asked if she knew any celebrities who shared her birthday, Cormier couldn’t think of any, but for the record, American rapper Ja Rule, “Law & Order” actor Dennis Farina and motivational speaker Tony Robbins are among the notable names.

The best part about having a true birthday only once every four years, Cormier joked, is that she won’t have to worry about turning 50.

“When I turned 40 [or 10], we had a big gathering and I got joke gifts like Barbie dolls,” she said. “I think the next big one will be my 16th. We’ll have a big party then. I probably should start planning now.”

erussell@bangordailynews.net

664-0524