An elderly Sarasota woman will be celebrating her birthday Wednesday, and thanks to the leap year, it's a special one.
Pattie Clendenin hits the legal drinking milestone on Feb. 29, as she is finally turning 21, technically.
Clendenin was born in 1928 and is 84 years old, but Wednesday will mark only the 21st time she gets to officially celebrate her birthday. She plans on having an adult beverage to mark the occasion.
"I enjoy wine, but I think champagne for my birthday would be great," Clendenin told WAGT.
The chances of being born on leap day are about 1 in 1,500.
Clendenin said that she would get teased by other children for not having a birthday every year while growing up, but said she eventually learned to love her unique day.
"Now it's great," she said. "I really get the birthday cards when I have one. Something clicks in people's minds and they think, 'Oh I know someone who has a birthday on the 29th.'"
Clendenin's husband, Bill, would only celebrate her birthday once every four years, but he would make up for missed birthdays -- like the year she turned 64, or as Clendenin puts it, the year she turned 16.
"Oh it was my 16th birthday when he did the party because he gave me a car -- a little red Honda that I loved," she said.
It is estimated that less than 200,000 people in the country share a leap day birthday. Clendenin has only met one other person in her life who shares her birthday.
With four years to think about it, Clendenin only has one thing on her wish list this year.
"Health, good health," she said.
