To All You Leapers

Happy Leap Day everyone. Why do we need leap years? I'm sure I learned this sometime in like 2nd grade, but I decided to look it up today because I didn't know the answer. Here's what I learned:

Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the sun about 365.2422 days to move around the Earth, also known as a solar year.
Using a calendar with 365 days every year would result in a loss of 0.2422 days, or almost six hours per year. After 100 years, this calendar would be more than 24 days ahead of the season, which is not desirable or accurate. By adding a leap year approximately every fourth year, the calendar will align with the seasons much more accurately.

I also learned that there are traditions associated with leap years.

"A tradition was introduced many centuries ago to allow women to propose to men during a leap year. This privilege of proposing was restricted to leap day in some areas. Leap day was sometimes known as Bachelors’ Day or Sadie Hawkins Day. A man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he refused a marriage offer from a woman. It was also considered to be unlucky for someone to be born on a leap day and for couples to marry in a leap year, including on a leap day."

I just realized that Dave and I were married in a leap year. Great. Now we not only have the "Arthur Bad Luck" to deal with but Leap Year bad luck as well. We're doomed.