A "leap year baby" who should be 55 but has only celebrated 13 birthdays loves to throw herself children’s parties – and says she gets to be "young forever".
Liz Duren, 55, was born on February 29, 1968 - a leap year - and has always seen the rare birthday as "lucky" and "special".
When the date rolls around every four years Liz loves to have a children's party – throwing a bash fit for a 10-year-old complete with a magician and games for her 44th.
This year she is turning 56 – although it is only the 14th time the date has reoccurred in her lifetime – and plans to have an ET themed party.
Liz, a podcaster and local historian, from Charleston, South Carolina, US, said: “When I turned 44 I threw a 10th birthday party.
“I had a magician and games.
“I’m 55 but also 13.
“I can be young forever.
“I look great for 56 but c**p for 13.”
Ever since she was little, Liz has always loved her leap day birthday.
Her family threw her a first birthday party when she turned four and she ended up on the front page of her local paper.
When it is not a leap year Liz celebrates on the following day – March 1 – but doesn’t mind when her friends wish her a happy birthday.
She said: “It’s very confusing for all my friends for when to wish me happy birthday.
“I’ve got two birth stones.
“I’m really very relaxed about how people want to celebrate my birthday.
“I try to make the 29th special.”
This year Liz will be acting in a play on her birthday and holding an ET themed party that weekend.
She said: “I consider myself the luckiest person in the world.
“I make a joke about myself.”
Liz - who is adopted - also said her rare birthday helped her track down her birth parents when she was 44.
She was able to track down her birth mum - who does not want to be named - by contacting strangers on Facebook who went to her mother’s high school and jogging their memory with her unique date of birth.
She was also able to track down her biological dad, Harry Bennett, 83, who she now has a close relationship with.
Liz said: “Through my adoption documents I was able to work out her high school.
“I contacted people she went to school with.
“I was able to spark people’s memories with the date.
“Being born on a unique day was easier to find my birth mum.”
Liz hopes other leap babies can feel “lucky” to have such a special and rare birthday.
She said: “I have only met a handle of people that have my birthday.
“I hope they embrace it.”
Liz Duren, 55, was born on February 29, 1968 - a leap year - and has always seen the rare birthday as "lucky" and "special".
When the date rolls around every four years Liz loves to have a children's party – throwing a bash fit for a 10-year-old complete with a magician and games for her 44th.
This year she is turning 56 – although it is only the 14th time the date has reoccurred in her lifetime – and plans to have an ET themed party.
Liz, a podcaster and local historian, from Charleston, South Carolina, US, said: “When I turned 44 I threw a 10th birthday party.
“I had a magician and games.
“I’m 55 but also 13.
“I can be young forever.
“I look great for 56 but c**p for 13.”
Ever since she was little, Liz has always loved her leap day birthday.
Her family threw her a first birthday party when she turned four and she ended up on the front page of her local paper.
When it is not a leap year Liz celebrates on the following day – March 1 – but doesn’t mind when her friends wish her a happy birthday.
She said: “It’s very confusing for all my friends for when to wish me happy birthday.
“I’ve got two birth stones.
“I’m really very relaxed about how people want to celebrate my birthday.
“I try to make the 29th special.”
This year Liz will be acting in a play on her birthday and holding an ET themed party that weekend.
She said: “I consider myself the luckiest person in the world.
“I make a joke about myself.”
Liz - who is adopted - also said her rare birthday helped her track down her birth parents when she was 44.
She was able to track down her birth mum - who does not want to be named - by contacting strangers on Facebook who went to her mother’s high school and jogging their memory with her unique date of birth.
She was also able to track down her biological dad, Harry Bennett, 83, who she now has a close relationship with.
Liz said: “Through my adoption documents I was able to work out her high school.
“I contacted people she went to school with.
“I was able to spark people’s memories with the date.
“Being born on a unique day was easier to find my birth mum.”
Liz hopes other leap babies can feel “lucky” to have such a special and rare birthday.
She said: “I have only met a handle of people that have my birthday.
“I hope they embrace it.”
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FunTranscript
00:00 I'm Liz Duren. I'm from Charleston, South Carolina, and I am a proud Leap Year baby.
00:05 I was born on February 29th of 1968, and I grew up always thinking that I just had the
00:12 coolest birthday. Nobody was going to have the same birthday as me. And it made me feel,
00:18 I don't know, it made me feel a little different, but also super special. And my birthday was always
00:23 very exciting when it was a real birthday. And there was always a debate on when do we celebrate?
00:29 Do we stick to February? Because I was born in February. But then my sweet father came up with
00:34 the great idea that I was born the day after February 28th. And that's the day we stuck to
00:41 celebrate my birthday for my life. It was always sort of the joke in the house that I would reach
00:46 a certain pinnacle age, like, "Oh, I'm 12." And they'd say, "Oh, but you're really four."
00:52 So this year, I get an actual Leap Year birthday. I will be 56, but I'm really only 14.
00:59 So I get to be very young forever. I can't really drive a car yet.
01:04 I think reaching the age of 10 as a Leap Year baby, I thought that was super fun. So we decided
01:13 to throw a big party at the house, and we decided to have a theme of a 10-year-old birthday party.
01:19 So we hired a magician, and we had someone who came around and made balloon animals for everybody.
01:24 And we played little silly 10-year-old games. And I had a little birthday cake,
01:28 which I couldn't find a picture of, which is too bad. But we had a great time just kind of
01:32 making fun of the fact that it was a 10-year-old party. And we're going to try to top it this year
01:38 when I turn 14. We're having a 1982-themed party for me. I really do look forward to it. I love
01:45 making fun of the fact that I might look pretty good for 56, but I look really bad for 14.
01:50 And I love the fact that people don't really know when to tell me happy birthday. So some people
01:58 will text me on the 28th and on the 1st. So I get double birthday wishes from people. It just makes
02:04 me feel special. And I think the older we get, the more people could care less about your birthday.
02:09 But when it's something like February 29th, all my friends can remember, "Oh, that's Liz's day."
02:15 When May 5th can just swoop by in our lives and we'll forget that it's our good friend's birthday.
02:21 No one really forgets mine.
02:22 And so.
02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]