Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 20: Stuck On The Moon, Part 2

 Stuck On The Moon, Part 2

Just as Noah's cane poked through the curtain, I heard the pastor speaking to the congregation, directly behind it. I took in a deep breath, grabbed Noah's bicep, and squeezed a little harder than I had intended. Noah stepped back in response, and the same staff member who had directed us before whispered, “Oh, sorry! Second door on the left!”

Fifteen minutes later, after Emilia and Jake were married, the cocktail hour started. It was just sodas, as it was a dry wedding, but they were all really good. A guy named Mason, who was also partially blind, had been told by Emilia to find Noah. See, the night before, Emilia had brailed the entire wedding schedule for Noah. Mason, Noah, and I were at table 12, with a few other people. Braden, his girlfriend Lila, a guy named Tommy, and his pregnant wife Sam. Everybody at the table volunteered with a Pittsburgh-based blind sports non-profit called Invision. The bridal party entered; Emilia and Jake had their first dance, and we had dinner. All the while, Noah and I informed our table about the events of Part 1.

Lila led the charge, and after a couple of dances, the entire table had volunteered to bring us back to Sheetz to try to jump the car, since Dad thought it was a battery issue. The only people who did not offer to help were Tommy and Sam, but obviously that's fair; she's pregnant. We took some pictures with Emilia and Jake, then drove back to the Sheetz. When we got back to the Sheetz, we realized Lila's car battery was on the opposite side of mine, and the jumper cables wouldn't reach. A car was parked next to mine in the most convenient spot for the jumper cables. I got into my car, put it in neutral, and everyone pushed it backward into a disabled spot; almost as soon as that happened, the car parked in the convenient spot pulled out. We tried to jump the car using Lila's car about three times, but it didn't work. Around then, a girl named Camille came up and offered her diagnostic plug-in to see what was wrong.

The diagnostics showed mostly tech issues, and as we were freaking out, a guy in a big pickup truck came up, asked what was going on, and managed to jump-start my car. Noah and I jumped in the car and drove (very shakily, I might add) to the gas pump. The plan was to drive all the way back to Columbus, but as I filled up… I wasn’t that confident that we’d make it. I plugged in Noah’s address, and as soon as I shared my ETA with Mom and Paige, the car died again. Lila has AAA, so I called her right away. 

As we waited for the AAA guy to get there, Noah had to go to the bathroom. I guided him there, but it was a pretty easy route to where I was, so he made it back on his own. When the car initially broke down, I told Paige it had. But because the WiFi at the venue and at the lake was so bad, we couldn’t really communicate. About eight cars were parked in the row behind the gas pumps. The cars belonged to a group of teenagers. I sent Paige a 4 min voice message, and during the message the teenagers started honking their horns. Individually at first. Then, slowly but surely, all at once. At the same time, Noah came out of the bathroom, and he was very overwhelmed by the sounds. The voice message that I sent to Paige as a result was very chaotic.

When the AAA guy finally arrived, I FaceTimed Dad again, and eventually the AAA guy told us he didn't believe the car would make it back to Columbus. So he drove us to a hotel where we stayed the night, and the next day, Mom and Dad drove to Pittsburgh to pick us up with Dad's trailer. Two more things happened while we were at the hotel. Firstly, Noah and I were drinking and eating a snack that we had left, and we were laughing so hard about the situation. Then I started to choke, and I threw up. That’s right, I threw up on the moon! Secondly, the only hotel rooms available had one bed. In the middle of the night, I rolled over, and Noah’s back was to me. I forgot what was going on, so seeing the back of some random guy’s head was very horrifying!

I’m a very positive person, or at least I try to be. It feels like everywhere you turn nowadays, something horrible is going on, and the world has completely fallen apart. I’m not going to say being stuck on the moon was fun… well, that’s kinda a lie. Noah made it fun, but the event itself was obviously stressful. But with all the people who came to our aid, I was once again reminded that not everything is as bad as it seems!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

As you may recall, on the fourth of July 2025 (Give Me Fireworks Or Give Me Death 2 Part 2: The Fan-Club), I had a similar car issue, and Dad had a car guy fix it. Ironically, that day was the day that Emilia and Jake got engaged. Mom is very negative about this guy because Dad has had him fix other cars, and within roughly a year the same issues that he fixes seem to pop up again. The Monday after the wedding was Labor Day. My cousin Austin had taken my brothers on a cross-country road trip that weekend too. Austin and Dad spent the entire Monday looking at my car. By the end of the day, Austin (at the very least) agreed with Mom, but either way, I needed a car for work the next day.

I went to my parents' house for dinner, and my parents had brought Mom’s 2005 Odyssey from the studio for me to take until Dad could fix my car. Right before dinner, Paige’s brother Brennan dropped her off. When Paige and I were ready to go home, I told her I wanted to test-drive the Odyssey before we left so I could get a feel for it. I drove to the funeral home parking lot up the street (where Shana's funeral had been held), and I tried to drive around. The parking lot was too small for me to get comfortable. I then thought back on when Papa taught me how to drive. I drove a few blocks to Whetstone High School, where Papa had taught me.

I have a ton of very specific memories tethered to this parking lot. I grew up in the area, so there are a lot of things I haven't written about. In terms of my writing, though, this parking lot is where the climax of The Greattastic Adventures 2: Fractured takes place. It is also where Lily and I went skateboarding on her last night working at my Kroger (Goodbye Lily). But the most prominent memory I have there is Papa teaching me how to drive there (Play Another Song). As I practiced driving a bigger car than I’m used to, I heard Papa’s voice in my head reminding me to stay in the moment and stay calm. With that boost and practice in this familiar space, I drove the Honda with confidence until I got my car back!

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 19: Stuck On The Moon, Part 1

 Stuck On The Moon, Part 1

This 2-parter is dedicated to a classmate’s mom (Sheila Tuttle), who passed away during the events of the end-credit scene in part 2. While I didn’t know her that well anymore, she had a pretty big impact on my early life, and she will be dearly missed.

In the installment Friends Of Noah, I introduced you to another blind athlete named Emilia, and her fiancé Jake, from Pittsburgh. Sometime between Paige and me getting back from the honeymoon and my birthday, Noah invited me to Emilia and Jake's wedding as his plus one. Paige wanted to come with us on the road trip because she has some family in Pittsburgh (dad’s side), so she would hang out with them during the wedding. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in the long run), Paige had a family reunion (mom’s side) that same weekend, so she chose to go to that instead… This was a dry wedding. Noah added a six-pack of beer to his Kroger order for the trip so we could have a couple of drinks before the ceremony (bride-sanctioned, of course). Noah and I aren't very timely people, and because it was such a long drive, we planned for me to arrive at his house (nicknamed Roger) at 10:00 a.m., go to Kroger immediately after, and then hit the road (the wedding started at 3:30).

On Saturday September 5th 2026, I dropped Paige off at her parents’ house at 7:15, I returned home by 7:30, posted Bad Days 2, showered, arrived at my parents’ house to get my suit coat at 9:45, arrived at Noah's right at 10:00, went to Kroger to pick up the order at 10:15, went to the bathroom, and headed out at 10:30. We made a pit stop in Cambridge Ohio, and our ETA was then at 2:00 pm. From there, everything was pretty uneventful until we got to Steubenville, Ohio. I took a couple of wrong turns before crossing into West Virginia, which pushed our ETA to about 2:15; still not bad. Once we were finally in Pennsylvania, we discussed stopping for food and changing into our suits. The plan was: get food, keep driving while we eat, and then change into our suits at a gas station. After talking about it we decided to stop at Chick-fil-A. I added that to my route, and it said that it only added 5 minutes. It wasn't until we were almost upon it that I realized, for some reason, Apple Maps had decided to take us to the Chick-fil-A at the Pittsburgh Airport. 

I pulled over and did a little more searching, and we eventually decided the best place to go would be a Sheetz Gas station, so we could change and get food there. Also, it was 10 minutes from their venue, so if I filled up there, we would basically go home on a full tank. I parked the car, we got our suits, and walked to the bathroom, taking up both stalls. I finished before Noah, and a guy walked in and took my stall. As if on cue, Queen’s You’re My Best Friend started playing, and Noah and I began singing it at each other. It wasn't until later, when I thought back on it, that I realized how weird it probably was for the guy in the stall. My wedding shoes were still in the car, and we put our regular clothes into Noah's backpack. We went to order food, and I told Noah to wait there while I got in my car, got my shoes on, and got gas. I put my key in the ignition, and it would not turn over. Even though it was still in park, it acted like it was in neutral, and it rolled over a curb. The bumper on my car is really crappy, and I've had issues with it since that kid ran the red and hit me in Bad Days 1, so when the car ran over the curb, the bumper started to pop off. I told Noah, We managed to push my car back over the curb and pop the hood.  By this point it was 3:10, and Noah let Emilia know what was going on, while I FaceTimed Dad. Dad asked me if someone could hold my phone while I tried to turn it on so he could see what was going on with the engine. I found two ladies in the parking lot and asked for their help. Dad thought that my battery was corroded, and he asked how we were doing on time. I explained that the ceremony started in 10 minutes, and the ladies offered to drive Noah and me there.

The ladies were 2 sisters named Tricia and Tracy. As we ate and finished getting ready, we told them what was going on, and they commented that this was a very Wedding Crashers situation. On the drive, Tricia said, “If anyone asks you where the car is, tell them you are at the Sheetz in Moon Township.”

“Wait,” I said, “So you're telling me that we got stuck on the moon?”

Everybody laughed, and we continued our drive to the venue. The venue was called The Fez, and Noah and I walked in at 3:37. “So much for being on time,” Noah laughed. We walked in, and the whiteboard read “The Wedding of Whitney and Jeff.” I was clearly confused, and one of the event staff asked us what wedding we were going to. As soon as we said "Emilia and Jake," they directed us down a hallway and told us that it was the first door on the left. 

Directly behind that door was a curtain with images of trees on it. I had opened the door, and Noah had let go of my elbow to walk through. Just as Noah's cane poked through the curtain, I heard the pastor speaking to the congregation, directly behind it. Wedding Crashers indeed, I thought.

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 18: Mitchmas (29), Part 3: Elizabeth’s B-day

  Mitchmas (29), Part 3: Elizabeth’s B-day

On Thursday, September 3rd 2026, after my coworker Elizabeth had left for the day, our other coworkers, Kaylee and Emily, and a couple others, decorated Elizabeth's classroom for her 37th birthday. We had accidentally gotten 50th birthday branded stuff and so we decided to commit to the bit. Immediately after we had finished I went down to the studio to get my car checked out (it would not be enough as you will see in the following installment), and then I went to Kroger to get a cake.

Paige and my refrigerator is not big enough for the cake and the rest of our necessities, so I drove to Emily's apartment. When I got there I said hi to all three of Emily's kids, two of whom I had met before. Before I left, the youngest one, who I had never met before, gave me a kiss on the cheek which was really cute! The next day, Elizabeth's birthday, after work I recorded Bad Days 2, and then drove to Emily's girlfriend, Kira’s house. Emily, Kaylee, Kira and I hung out for about 30 minutes, before it was time for us to drive to Smash Park (which I hilariously thought was a rage room). The day before I had asked Emily for the address for Smash Park before I asked for her address. I ended up being 15 minutes late because I drove to Emily's apartment instead of Smash Park, because it was the last address in our text thread.

When I arrived at Smash Park, I was greeted by Elizabeth, her two kids, and her boyfriend Joel. Afterwards we found a table and ordered our dinner. Everyone laughed when I got ready to order because I had to order off the kids menu. Seriously, it needs to be the kids AND the ‘tism menu! Anyway, the workers saw the cake that we brought in and gave her a second dessert so we sang happy birthday twice. 

The second time, with the cake I brought we put a 50 candle on the cake. “ WHATS WITH ALL THE 50s?” She exclaimed. 

“Oh,” I said, “50 years ago was when the vampire bit you!” Yeah I’m fully convinced Elizabeth is a vampire, but that’s another story. 

After dinner we went to the arcade. Everybody got those Photo Booth strips with Elizabeth individually. After we played the arcade games we went outside and played a couple of different games. I played ping pong with Elizabeth and I was really really bad at it. Then I played that ring toss game with the little metal rings on the strings with the hooks on the wall. I, of course, broke the string by accident.

This Mitchmas 3 parter has functioned a little differently than previous years. There is one reason that will not be important until next year, but presently, I wrote them like this for a separate reason. As I’ve mentioned before for obvious reasons, Covid-19, had lasting ramifications outside of the actual pandemic. The biggest impact on my life was that my “sisters” and I got stuck in this weird limbo between our childhood and our adulthood. And almost as soon as life unpaused,  August got pregnant Arden and Marshall got engaged/married and I started dating Paige. In other words, because of the speed at which everything happened, it felt like three years of character development happened in basically the course of six months (if you count, Arden and Marshall’s engagement and private elopement as a singular event) and that put a lot of strain on our friend group. 

While everything with the Andersons has leveled out (and honestly things are better with them than they ever have been), my confidence growing up was tethered to my relationship with them. We're still tight, but we're now able to have our own lives. And because we are not around each other  as much as we used to be, for the last few years I have not been able to unlock my full confidence unless I'm around the Anderson women, Paige, Noah, recently Elena, and my family. 

Another thing that was a little stunted by Covid was my mission to make friends. I met Noah at the end of 2019 and while Noah is one of my best friends in the entire world now, at the time the intention was for him to be a starting point. Not that I wouldn't pursue our friendship to the fullest, but I would use our friendship as a template for making friends post Arden’s initial move to Colorado. When Covid hit Noah and I (and yes, we have talked about this) got comfortable in our friendship. Which isn’t a bad thing; again I love Noah. But I have still wanted a friend group (and ideally more than one) so that my confidence can be more consistent across the board. What I’m saying is that as we celebrated Elizabeth’s birthday, I thought about how thankful I am for this group and all the people that make my life greattastic! 

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 17: Mitchmas (29), Part 2: A Quick Trip To Orlando

 Mitchmas (29), Part 2: A Quick Trip To Orlando

Key: In this installment, Paige B is my cousin Paige and Austin B is her husband.

My grandma on my dad’s side turned 80 on July 27th. The following week my parents, Grandma, and my grandpa Joe went to Belize. Pop-pop’s 80th birthday was on August 24. All things being equal, my family decided to take a quick trip down to Orlando to celebrate his birthday.

I got home on Friday August 21st at 4:20, and as soon as I walked in, I realized Paige had gotten a haircut. We left the apartment at 4:45, and 20 minutes later we were at Kobolt. We flew on Breeze, which is the replacement budget airline after Spirit went under. It was about the same expense. We got to Eva and Zach’s at close to midnight that night, and after we hung out with them and I cleaned my finger (I was still recovering from the events of Bad Days 2), we went to bed. 

The next day, we spent the morning setting up Eva’s house for Pop-pop’s party. Eva, Mom, Dad, Paige, and I set up these little paper flowers and other decorations. Zach, Ryan, and Luke got food and photos, while Josh did lawn work, and then we all hung the photos up. 

Around 3:45, Pop-pop and Sara arrived, and the party started at 4:00. The people who I knew at the party were some of Dad‘s cousins, Martin and Pam and Martin’s parents, my Aunt Alicia, Uncle Paul, Alexander, Austin, Paige and Austin B, their kids, Bentley and Piper, and one of Pop-pop’s old friends, Deb, who visited Columbus with Pop-pop shortly after Ryan was born. Everyone else (excluding Sara‘s children and grandchildren), was from about 3 different friend groups Pop-pop is part of, and most of them had never met each other

People started leaving around 6:30, shortly after Paige B took the kids home to bed. The only people left were Eva & Zach, my parents and brothers, Pop-pop, Sara, Aunt Alicia, Uncle Paul, Austin, and obviously Paige. Everyone went into the pool for a late-night swim. 

As we swam, Pop-pop put his mouth on the end of his pool noodle and shot water out of the other end at Dad. This started an all-out brawl. As I got out of the pool, because the water was too much for my finger, I looked at my family. I think we tend to have a lot of fun when we are together, but it was amazing to see my 80-year-old grandpa playing with my dad and my siblings and having the time of his life.

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 16.5: Visitors At Work

 Visitors At Work

On Thursday, August 20th, 2026, after I picked Paige up from work, Mom called me. She was checking on how we were doing with packing for a trip we were going on the next day. In the middle of that phone call, Arden called me. For obvious reasons, I ignored the phone call, but then I forgot to call her afterward because I had to finish packing.

The next morning, I texted her to say I was sorry I missed the call, and she said it was okay. She also told me her parents, Rich and Barbara, were in town and trying to get a wedding gift for Paige and me, to us. Our flight was at 6:15, so we had to be at the airport by 5:00. With that in mind, I told them I probably couldn’t get it that day. 

At 12:20, I got a message from one of the front desk ladies. I got switched out of my classroom and went up to the lobby. As I walked into the lobby, I saw Rich and Barbara walking towards the entrance. The last time I saw them was last Thanksgiving (False Safety or Right Where We Left Off (Refresher). And while it took me a week to actually open the present, it was really nice to see them (even if it was just for two minutes) 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 16: Mitchmas (29), Part 1: The Stuff Of Legend

 Mitchmas (29), Part 1: The Stuff Of Legend  

At the end of my meeting with Elana on July 21st, she started asking me about my birthday plans. I was planning on going on a peddle wagon downtown, and initially I had been planning on inviting Elana. Since she had told me she was pregnant 20 minutes before this and she wouldn’t be able to drink, I knew she wouldn’t have fun. Noah always comes to my family birthday dinner, but this year he was out of town. Since I wanted to reconnect with Elana’s boyfriend, Leo, anyway, to fill the void left by Noah, I invited Elana and Leo to dinner.

As you may recall last year, I got a venti-sized version of my Starbucks drink and immediately spilled it in the New Story parking lot. On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, after I picked Paige up from work, she walked over to Giant Eagle and bought me a canned Starbucks coffee so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. 

The next day, I called Mom after work to talk about dinner for that night, and then I ordered the free birthday coffee from Starbucks. I got home at 4:00, put the coffee in the fridge, and then, at about 5:45, Paige and I got in the car. We drove to Barnes & Noble as we did last year. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I have been listening to audiobooks because if I’m not reading something that I’ve written, I feel like I’m being lazy. I’m going to Barnes & Noble constantly to fill up my physical book collection. I only got 1 book this year. It’s called The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens. It’s the first book in a duology, and it’s about a journalist who interviews a convicted killer who was released from prison because he is about to die of old age anyway. After the duology, there is a robust spinoff series following a pretty major supporting character, which I also really enjoyed (though after doing research for this installment, I realized I have not finished the entire series). 

After we got the book, we drove right across the parking lot to a restaurant called Bravo. Paige and I arrived first, then Elana and Leo, followed by my brothers, and finally, Mom and Dad. After dinner, we went to my parents' house for cake and some gifts. 

As I’ve said before, since 2021 (Season 4), I have written a version of this installment every year (except for 2022). It’s always about my family going out to dinner with Noah. As Paige, Elana, Leo, and I walked out of my parents' house, Elana turned to me. “Are you writing about this?” She asked 

“Of course,” I exclaimed.

“WOW, so I get to be Noah this time!” She smiled. 

“Yeah, I guess,” I laughed. 

“It’s just kinda crazy. I’ve been listening to you talk about this dinner for years,” Elana explained, “and now that I’m here, I feel like I’m the stuff of legend!” 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 15: Shane‘s Bachelor Party

 Shane’s Bachelor Party

One night in October of 2021, I was on a cart shift at Kroger. My partner on this cart shift was Shane (this was before he became my roommate). None of our shifts had lined up since I got the restraining order on my crazy ex, Ishana, so I was catching him up on my time in court and the verdict. I had met Shane the previous August, when Ishana was actively stalking me, and on Shane and my second shift working together, she showed up at Kroger. All this to say, my relationship drama dominated Shane and my early conversations. As I finished the story and was able to step away from this traumatic situation, a thought occurred to me. “Shane,” I asked, “are you in a relationship?” Shane immediately smiled and said, “Yes! I’m dating a girl named Jessica…” He paused, brought up his ring finger, pointed at it, and continued, “and soon she’s going to be more than just my girlfriend.” 

On Saturday, August 15th, 2026, I dropped Paige off with my cousins (they had invited us to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day), and I drove to a place called Put Hut. 

I got to Put Hut at 6:30 and walked in after I found parking. Put Hut (from what I can tell) had two major features. Firstly, it had a full putt-putt course. Secondly and more interestingly, the center of the building was dedicated to… well, it was like if a bowling alley and Topgolf had a baby. It had all these “ bowling lanes,” and you would hit the golf ball down the lane, and there were different Topgolf-esque games you could play.  I met all of the groom's party, which included Shane’s best man (Jesse), 2 of Shane’s other groomsmen (Matthew- who I believe is Jessica's brother-in-law- and a friend of Shane’s named Henry, though the relationships could be swapped). I was also reintroduced to Jessica’s brother Nick, who I met when Shane and Jessica got engaged (he will be officiating the wedding). We played a few rounds of the bowling Topgolf fusion game before we decided to go to Dave & Buster’s for dinner and to play some more games. 

After dinner, we played in the arcade for like 4 hours. The whole time I couldn’t stop staring at Shane. See, Shane and Jessica got engaged back in 2022 (Proposal On Gleason Road). Since then, there have been a handful of false starts with planning the wedding. I have always loved weddings, even before my own. Ever since Shane told me he was planning on proposing to Jessica back in October of 2021, and even more so since I helped them actually get engaged, I have been really looking forward to their wedding. I spent the night of Shane’s bachelor party in awe and excitement that the wedding is finally happening! 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT