44-year-old woman celebrating 11th birthday Feb. 29
THREE RIVERS – How does a person celebrate the recurrence of a significant event for only the 11th time in their life?
Nicolette Cole is about to find out.
The Three Rivers resident is celebrating her birthday today. She defied the 1,461-in-1 odds and was born on Leap Day in 1980.
Despite it being just her 11th birthday, she is 44 years old.
“Having a birthday on Feb. 29 is a great way to stay young,” she laughed. “I’ll be 72 on the date of my 18th birthday, 84 on my 21st birthday.”
Cole was Nicolette Hummel when she grew up in Centreville and attended its schools through her sophomore year.
In the days leading up to her birth, Cole said her parents were more focused on a name than on the improbable reality of being born on such a unique date. The name part of the puzzle was solved when, on their way to the hospital, Cole’s parents heard the radio play Nicolette Larson’s “Lotta Love.”
“My dad, right then and there, said that’s it, it’s going to be Nicolette,” she said. “I was actually supposed to be named Nick, even though my parents knew I was going to be a girl, but that all changed by the chance of a song playing on the radio.”
Birthdays on non-Leap Years were actually celebrated with more fanfare than the years featuring a Feb. 29. Cole said her family, her late father specifically, made a two-day event out of her birthday.
“I had two parties; Feb. 28 and another party March 1, so that was kind of neat,” she said. “But when I was younger, I really didn’t like having a birthday on Feb. 29. I got teased, as kids will do, so, when I was young … I’d get called Nicorette (gum), so I just got in the habit of saying my birthday was Feb. 28 so they didn’t have one more thing to tease me about.”
In second and sixth grades, however, her teachers recognized the novelty and unwittingly exposed her secret by announcing to her class the Feb. 29 birthday.
"I think it wasn’t until I was 12 before it started to sink in that Feb. 29 was such a rare date and it was kind of cool that I was different from everybody else in that sense,” she said. “I’ve never met anyone who has the same birthday as mine … a few who are close, Feb. 28 and on a Leap Year, but never on Feb. 29.”
Meanwhile, Cole said on the occasion when she’s required to provide her date of birth, her response is sometimes met with a “Wait, what?” reply.
“If it’s someone younger, they sometimes react in the same way as if you had handed them a $2 bill … they kind of don’t understand right away,” she said. “I guess one thing that’s always kind of unusual is in a year when my driver’s license expires, it always expires on March 1.”
For her 11th birthday today, Cole said her husband, David, has been tight-lipped about plans. But she has a solid backup if nothing happens. An ambassador for the Kalamazoo Marathon, Cole said she would be fulfilled simply making a 15-mile run.
Other local people celebrating a Leap Day birthday include Three Rivers-area residents Eddie MacKay and Kristen McEnroe, Phil Kline of Kline’s Resort and Sturgis resident Rebecca Layton.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Three Rivers woman celebrates Leap Day birthday
