The Gift of an Extra Day
Mustard blooms in a Sonoma Valley vineyard.
We all have exactly the same amount of time. Time is likely the only thing that is completely equitable each day. I have 24 hours in every day, and so do you. You have seven days in every week, and so do I. We all have 365 days in a year. But this year, we all have 366 days.
It’s a leap year, and I love Leap Year. Perfectionists like me try to line up everything just so, and then Leap Year reminds us we have all been a little bit off kilter for three years or so.
A year is 365 days, but it actually takes about six hours more than 365 days for the Earth to make a complete orbit around the sun. So, we add an extra day to the calendar every four years to ensure real life aligns as best as it can with the celestial seasons.
That extra day trues up the world. And it is an extra day. A whole extra day.
That additional day is a gift we all receive after repeated mumblings under our breath for more time. I don’t know how many times a week I hear people say:
“Oh, I really don’t have the time.”
“I wish I had more time.”
“I just totally ran out of time.”
Guess what? This year we all have been given more time! An additional 24 hours!
Not many people see it that way, though. Most people I talk to look at it as another day on the calendar. A Saturday, which is good, but just a Saturday. Even my best friend is a little angry that what she calls the worst month of the year is extended, and she will sleep her way through Leap Day.
But for me, Leap Day is a day you don’t want to spend doing ordinary, day-to-day things. It’s a special day! A whole extra day!
Four years ago on Leap Day, my husband and I took a quick, splurge trip to California wine country. I wanted to see the vibrantly yellow mustard plants blooming in the vineyards, and it was the time of year to do that. It was something neither of us had ever seen. That was a worthy way to spend our extra day.
This year we set aside Leap Day to take an epic eastern South Dakota whirlwind road trip to explore some of the iconic landmarks we have never seen. The idea is to do something we have never done before, even if it’s kind of silly or simple, to commemorate our gift of additional time.
The one way time isn’t at all equitable is that we aren’t all given the same number of years. While I have recently crossed the threshold into what I guess I now have to call middle age, the uncertainty of how many years a person gets is something I have felt for a while.
My grandfather died when I was 8 years old. He had just turned 64, and my grandmother had just retired after a lifetime of teaching. They had planned trips to take together, so much of life still yet to live together. Even at 8, I remember thinking how unfair it was that my grandmother was left alone and they didn’t get to do the things they had wanted to do in their retirement years.
I decided then and there that life wasn’t meant to be put off. It became clear to me that none of us are guaranteed a retirement, old age, or another year. None of us are guaranteed even another day. So, when you are given an extra day, another whole day, you live it.
Like it always does, the world has gone a bit off kilter again. The seasons aren’t quite lining up anymore. That extra day on Saturday, Leap Day, will do what it can to make it right again. And I will spend my additional 24 hours grateful for the time I have been given.
If having any extra time feels like a delusion to you, maybe H Squared Communications can help. It’s my goal to make sure those 100 items on your to-do list are worth doing. When you focus your efforts and target your message to the right audience, you can accomplish more with fewer resources and less time. This is communications strategy, and that’s what I do.