FARMVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) –
Matthew Wright is 48 years old and 12 years old.
He was born on February 29th, or Leap Day.
Leap day’s only come every four years, and are extra days added to our calendar system to keep it in sync with our Earth’s orbiting around the sun.
Wright is one of nearly four million other people in the world with this sometimes non-existent birth date.
“Obviously it wasn’t the most convenient thing as a kid to have a birthday once every four years,” said Wright.
“Kids kind of pick on you a little bit, but it does make you unique.”
Wright is a coffee roaster and owner of Lanoca Coffee Company in Farmville, North Carolina.
He named his company after Lanoca Street, which is where his great aunt used to live.
She’s also the person who introduced him to coffee at an early age.
“She had a next door neighbor named Eugine Slye who was a postman there,” said Wright.
“His birthday also happened to be on Leap Day. So, Lanoca coincidentally has a tie into Leap Day.”
The mascot for Lanoca Coffee Company is a squirrel, and it also has to do with the street that introduced Wright to coffee.
Wright said his great aunt had a nest of baby squirrels fall out of a tree near her house, and only one survived.
She kept the squirrel as a pet and raised it.
Years later, Wright and his family decided to make the company’s mascot a squirrel, in honor of his aunts former pet.
Now, Wright says he really doesn’t celebrate his birthday unless it’s on a Leap Year, because it’s much more special.
He says it got more special to him the older he got.
