F is for FRIDAY

I have been a very busy girl. It is Friday and time to catch up and get back on a more regular routine with my blogging.

Today would have been my parent’s anniversary. If they were alive it would have been 72 years together. My parents had some struggles in their marriage but I think they would have stuck it out regardless. I like to think so anyway.

Tomorrow is Leap Day or Bachelor’s Day. It actually takes the earth about ‘365.2421’ days to orbit the sun, so every four years we add an extra day to the calendar to make up for those straggling decimals. If you are born on February 29th, you are known as a leapling. Leap day tradition indicates this is the only day a woman is allowed to propose marriage to a man. From History.com:

Curiously, many Leap Day customs have revolved around romance and marriage. Tradition holds that in 5th-century Ireland, St. Bridget lamented to St. Patrick that women were not allowed to propose marriage to men. So legend has it that St. Patrick designated the only day that does not occur annually, February 29, as a day on which women would be allowed to propose to men. In some places, Leap Day thus became known as Bachelor’s Day.

This tradition hopped the Irish Sea to Scotland and England, where the British added a twist—if a man rejected a woman’s proposal, he owed her a debt of several pairs of fine gloves, perhaps to hide the fact that she did not have an engagement ring. In Greek tradition, however, it is considered bad luck to marry on Leap Day, and statistics suggest that Greek couples continue to take this superstition seriously.

For me, Leap Day should be seen as a day to take a leap – a brave step toward something you hope for. It might be scary, but it also might well be worth the risk. Unless you take the first step, who knows? We took our leap yesterday. We are now under contract for a new home. The next 30 days of due diligence will be stressful. Stay tuned!

Thinking about leap year, I am reminded of one of my favorite films as a child. “Brigadoon”, a fictional town whose name is derived from a medieval bridge in Ayrshire Scotland named ‘Brig o’ Doon’, is a story about a village that only comes to life once every 100 years. As a child I was swept up in the fantasy, the love story and the music. And of course, the amazing team of Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse only add to the magic.

It is a beautiful day here. Snow is predicted for the mountains, but if we get anything, it might just be a flake or two. Spring is trying to break through. We have a few flowers blooming around the house. The dreaded and invasive Bradford Pear trees are already blooming all around — we do not have any on our property! The dogwoods and redbud trees will soon follow.

We have family coming tomorrow to celebrate hubby’s birthday with us. So, deciding what to fix to eat will be my next order of business.

Not a bad way to enter into the weekend. How are things in your world? Taking any leaps tomorrow? Proposing marriage?