Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 22: Shane’s Wedding (Boys Don’t Cry)

Shane’s Wedding (Boys Don’t Cry) 

When Paige and I moved in together, I did a three-part installment called The Truth About War Of The Roommates. Each part was a different flashback, depicting something I kept from you, the audience, because I wanted to pretend Shane and I were doing better as roommates after the original War Of The Roommates saga. The first installment in the trilogy was subtitled The Battle Of Gabby. It was about Shane and my ex-girlfriend Gabby getting into a fight. Shane told me that he would apologize, but Gabby and I broke up before he could, and Paige inherited this second-hand beef with Shane from Gabby because of my insecurities about Shane and her fight. When Jessica got her job at Bitty & Beau’s, Shane, Paige, and I went to the grand opening. I used the installment I wrote about that (Bitty & Beau’s) as the epilogue to the War Of The Roommates story. After that, I have avoided talking about War Of The Roommates in installments about Shane, as that story is over…

On Friday, October 9th, 2026, I woke up at 6:00, did some writing, and at noon I got a haircut; then Paige and I drove to North Star Golf Club in Sunbury. We arrived at 2:10, and I walked Paige over to the restaurant, where we had had the rehearsal dinner. I went to the staging area, got dressed, and then at 3:30, it was time for the first look. There was a balcony that overlooks where the wedding was going to be held, and Shane stood out there while the bridal party stood inside watching. Jessica walked up behind Shane and tapped his shoulder. Shane turned around, and I don’t think he even looked at her before he put his hand on her back, dipped, and kissed her! After that, the photographer took pictures, and we watched until Jesse, the best man’s voice cracked as he said, “Okay, I’m going to go stand over there.” And we took that as our permission to walk away. 

About 2 hours later, at 4:55, the bridal party lined up to process into the ceremony. When we were ready, we all walked out, and when we were at the altar, Jessica and her father walked down the aisle. Bill, a local musician I have mentioned once before, read a poem, and then Jessica's aunt did a scripture reading (I'm pretty sure it was Ecclesiastes). Jessica’s brother Nick, who was officiating the wedding, greeted everyone by saying, “Good evening, everyone; thank you for coming! It has been 4 years since Shane proposed to Jessica. If you haven’t heard that story, it's a great one…” 

He then gave a summary of Proposal On Gleason Road. For those of you who don’t remember, I had used Cousin Simple’s kabuki drop (a drop curtain) to hide Shane and Jessica’s families, Bill, and me in our (Shane and my) kitchen, while Shane and Jessica had their anniversary dinner. At the end of dinner, we started singing. We sang 4 songs, and during the third song, after I dropped the curtain, Shane proposed. As Nick took us back to that moment, we all smiled as we reminisced on their relationship. 

During their vows, instead of saying “I do,” Jessica said, “I totally do!” Which was so her. Now Jesse is engaged to a girl who I’m going to call Vanessa. Her family owns the funeral home at the top of my parents' street; she was in the class below Paige, and she has a minor cameo appearance in my next book (more on that soon). After Shane and Jessica were officially married, we moved on to the cocktail hour. Paige met members of the bridal party, including Henry, Shane’s sister, Hannah, and Jesse; she reintroduced herself to Vanessa; and she met Bill and his wife. 

When we went into the proper reception, we sat at a table with basically everyone that Paige had met. After about 10 minutes, Shane and Jessica entered. They walked in wearing Pink and Blue baseball hats, and they said either "Husband" or "Wife." Immediately after they had their first dance, I was on the verge of tears. Then, after dinner, Jesse went up to give his speech. At the beginning of the speech, he said, “I’m going to try not to get out. I’m already on strike two because I’ve cried twice tonight,” then, not a minute later, he said, “Man, I’m already on strike three!” For the maid of honor speech, Jessica's sister Megan and sister-in-law Katie (Nick’s wife), spoke together. They said that at her bachelorette party, they asked her what she loved most about Shane. Her immediate response was, “When he hugs me, it feels like home.” 

As I said in the mini-installment that came out with this installment, one of Shane’s moms (Helene) had a procedure the day before, and so she was unable to come to the rehearsal dinner or the wedding. Jessica and her dad danced, and then Shane’s other mom (Denise) and he danced. At the end of that dance, they had a second dance in which Denise stood in for Helene. After that, the dance floor was opened.  As we danced, they passed out these foam light-up sticks, and over the course of the night, Henry stuffed them into his shirt so he looked like a human strobe light. 

There are a couple more things I wanted to talk about that are slightly related to War Of The Roommates. I spent our first summer living together pretending that Paige was not my girlfriend because I wanted to focus on our roommate dynamic, because I was paranoid that it would be a repeat of the War Of The Roommates situation, and I didn’t want that happening with my future wife. All that to say, I did overcome my insecurities about Shane and Paige, which Gabby gave me years ago! But at the wedding, Shane came up and hugged Paige like 3 times, and I don’t know…  I was super happy that even though they don’t know each other super well, they are still friends. 

In my heart, I knew I never hated Shane. I do know, however, that I’m not great at expressing negative emotions without them showing up in their most extreme form. What I’m saying is that, from Shane’s perspective in real life (and presumably from some outside perspectives), it could have seemed like I hated him. And even if that’s not how it seemed, or how he felt, it definitely wasn’t fun for either of us. From the time Jesse “gave us permission” to walk away from the first look to Shane’s second dance with Denise, the other groomsmen, Jesse and I were joking, “boys don’t cry.” While I said that the War Of The Roommates story is over, the juxtaposition between that not-great situation and me fighting back tears the entire night is evidence of how close Shane and I are now. I am so happy for him and Jessica, and I'm glad I got to be a part of their special day!

Congratulations, Shane and Jessica, wishing you a Greattastic Life, 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 21.5: Shane’s Rehearsal Dinner

 Shane’s Rehearsal Dinner

On Thursday, October 8th, 2026, at 3:45, I walked out into the New Story parking lot and walked to my car. Paige was off at 4:00, so I drove to my parents’ house to get my suit (Mom had hemmed it), picked Paige up from work, and as soon as she was out of the car, I plugged in the directions to the venue. About 45 minutes later, at 5:30, I walked into the venue and said hi to Shane, Jessica, Jessica's mom, Henry (a groomsman), Jesse (the best man), and Nick (Jessica's brother, who was officiating the wedding), Shane's aunt and uncle, and Shane's sister, whom we will call Hannah. I put the suit in the room where we would be getting dressed the next day, and immediately afterwards, the rehearsal began. We lined up in our procession order, and I was introduced to my bridesmaid, Kiana. Kiana was Jessica's roommate, which makes sense why we were paired together. After the rehearsal, we were led to a restaurant at the venue for the dinner. 

Shane's moms were paying for the rehearsal dinner, but one of them had a minor medical procedure that day, so neither of them could come to the rehearsal. Hannah called her and Shane's other mom (the one who did not have the surgery), and she gave a speech. She started the speech by talking about her and Shane's relationship, their love of sports, and a situation when Shane was about a year old: she saw a ton of teenagers playing football, and he stood up in his stroller and pointed at them, clearly wanting to play. She then talked about Jessica. Shane and Jessica had met a handful of times through the Special Olympics and the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio (DSACO), but she was in another relationship at the time. After she and her ex broke up, she texted Shane, “You know I'm single now, right?” She went on to say that Shane had always been a social butterfly, but he struggled to advocate for himself. Jessica, on the other hand, is a little more introverted, but knew how to ask for what she wanted. Shane's cousin Luke (who is also a groomsman, but couldn't make it to the bachelor party) got married about a month ago, and Shane's mom watched Shane and Jessica interact with everybody as a couple, and she reflected on how much they have helped each other grow. 

I have written many wedding installments over the years. While I have put the most writing work into my and Paige’s wedding, for obvious reasons, Shane's wedding is a close second (in terms of how much I’ve written about its setup). I explained throughout those installments why I was so excited for Shane's wedding. But as his mom spoke about the bride and groom to be, the reality that their wedding was the next day hit. Little did I know then that that feeling set the tone for the entire next day! 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 21: 2 Fall Fests

 2 Fall Fests 

OLP Festival 2

I've only written about the OLP Parish Festival one other time. It is a chapter in my second book, Once in a Lifetime: A Song For Sam. It used to happen in the summer. However, at some point after I left OLP as a student, one of Luke's classmates' moms took over running the festival. Once that classmate's little brother graduated, the mom stopped running the festival, and eventually it was rebranded as a fall festival. On Saturday, September 19th, Paige and I drove to my parents' house after hanging out with Noah and Nicole individually that day, and we walked to OLP. 

There were a few differences between this new OLP festival and the one from my youth. For one thing, there were less people, or at the very least less people that I knew. This makes sense… I am no longer a parishioner, student, or staff member at OLP, so it makes sense that I’m a little out of the loop. And obviously, as an adult, I could not enjoy “kiddie land,” which was a huge draw during my childhood, obviously. But I was able to see a few former teachers and some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. 

The chapter I wrote about the OLP festival in Once in a Lifetime was one of my favorite childhood memories. It was the first time that I had any freedom at all, the closest thing S.M. and I ever had to a date, and (with the benefit of hindsight and knowing her in the present), Elana did attempt to tell me that S.M. liked me too that night. While it was not as eventful as I thought it would be, it was still fun to introduce Paige to everyone. 

Cooketober Fest

The neighbors directly behind my parents (The Crawfords) live on a street called Cooke Rd. Every year Cooke Rd. has their block party at the end of September, and they call it Cooketober Fest. 

The following Saturday, September 26th, when Paige and I got up, we had a text from Nicole. She asked if we wanted to go to Roosters to watch the game with a coworker of hers. We got to Roosters at 11:50 right before kickoff, and Nicole and her coworker Sam arrived shortly thereafter. We sat and watched the whole game, and then I left Paige with Nicole because I had to do some work stuff. About an hour later (5:00), I arrived at my parents' house, about 10 minutes after Paige and Nicole. 

When I arrived at Cooketober Fest, I immediately talked to Mom and Robin Crawford, Dad, and Stephen Crawford, then Ryan, and Luke (who were bartending). Paige, Nicole and I found a seat, and we talked until we saw Megan and Rachel Crawford, Megan’s boyfriend, who we’re gonna call Jonah, and Josh. We moved to their table and began catching up with everyone! 

Hot take: I hate summer. To be fair, I also hate winter. I think I just hate the extremes. In my perfect world, the seasons would be Fall (August 1st-Thanksgiving Day), Winter (Black Friday-New Year's Day), Spring (January 2nd- July 1st), and then Summer (July 2nd-July 31st). I have never really expressed my love for fall in an installment before, and with these two fall festivals, I thought it would be a nice way to start off one of my favorite seasons. 

Have a Greattastic day and be Safe!

 J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

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…