Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 26: Christina

 Christina

Earlier this season (I believe it’s in Summer Long Honeymoon Part 1), I mentioned an imaginary wife I had before I started dating Paige. I might have even mentioned her before this season, but I can’t remember now. I wasn't thinking of her as a real person. I was mostly using her as narrative shorthand for, “I've always wanted to get married, and Paige has fulfilled that dream.” But as I wrote and recorded season 10, I started to think of her as an actual character, and six months into being married (as of today, Sunday, November 15, 2026), I’ve realized how damaging she actually was. Let me explain.

In Once In A Lifetime: Song For Sam, I wrote a chapter called “I’m gonna marry her.” At the time, I had had a crush on S.M. for a few years, and in the chapter, she told me she wanted to kiss me. We didn’t, but from that point on I “knew” that she would eventually become Samantha Ulibarri. Here’s the problem: while this imaginary future version of S.M. was in her image, she was part of me, not S.M. Therefore, Samantha Ulibarri’s existence was not tethered to S.M.’s life and, more importantly, her death. After S.M. died, my grief eventually warped Samantha Ulibarri into this unrealistically perfect being. 

While I didn’t openly start writing about this being until I used her as narrative shorthand, I think she appeared before. She first appeared in my first book, The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child. Right when I realized I wanted the Andersons in my life, my 2011 self imagined a future where my kids and the Andersons kids were friends. In the imagination, my crush (and eventual first girlfriend), Caroline, was my wife. I think “wife Caroline” was the same being, taking her face as it once took S.M.’s. 

After Caroline and I broke up between The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child and The Greattastic Adventures 2: Fractured, the being evolved unchecked without a tether until it eventually became Christina. Christina was my imaginary girlfriend that I invited and introduced to the Andersons and a few other friends, as they were all getting into relationships, so I wouldn't feel left out. When the Andersons called me out on it as a defense mechanism, I lied and said that I had a crush on August, which tethered Christina, this perfect being, to her. August became perfect, and after I untethered Christina from August (by getting over this unhealthy crush), my third girlfriend, Becca, became perfect. Christina traveled through all of my girlfriends and crushes until Gabby. 

On the night before Gabby and my first date, Aspen told me, “You're overthinking this! It's a first date! It’s not like you go from this straight to marriage. You have a ton of time to figure it out. If it leads to something, it leads to something; if not, so be it.” This broke the cycle, and Christina was not tethered to Gabby and (more importantly) Paige. 

But Aspen didn’t kill Christina. She just delayed her getting a new host. The insecurities that created Christina still existed. So while Paige and I were growing organically, Christina was evolving and transforming from the mold for a perfect girlfriend into the mold for the perfect wife, and she waited for Paige at the altar. 

I think this is the problem with the Disney-faction of love. If you think of “happily ever after” as the end, then you miss the point. That perpetuates the idea that you don’t need to work to have the perfect marriage. It should just happen. Paige is my wife, but she still needs to be my girlfriend. Paige is my perfect wife, independent of the mold Christina represents. But acknowledging three things about Christina are important. Those things are:

1. Christina was born out of 

A. Grief 

B. Wanting a Relationship and 

C. The influence of Disney. 

2. She was (and at least partially still is) relevant outside of the events of my third book 

3. The expectations that she represented are innately unhealthy 

I have not been shy about the fact that Paige and I did not handle engagement well. We both got very stressed about planning the wedding, and it wasn’t until things settled down after the honeymoon that I was able to appreciate Paige as my wife. I think, because of the insecurities that Christina represents, I was putting too much pressure on Paige during our engagement. She deserves better than that. I promise to keep working to be the best husband she can have!

Have a Greattastic Day and be safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 25: The Return Of Halloween

 The Return Of Halloween

Growing up, I loved Halloween! The candy was good (obviously), but there was more to it. The fact that everybody would play pretend one night per year was very soothing to the ‘tism. In my next book (which I promise I will be talking about very soon), there is a chapter called The Halloween Fight Of 2017. The event depicted in that chapter was the first major emotional turning point as I transitioned from childhood to adulthood. By default, the last Halloween that I truly enjoyed was 2016. 

On Halloween 2026, I woke up, and Paige and I had a breakfast date. On our way home, Josh texted us to ask if we wanted to come over and carve pumpkins. At 1:30, we (Ryan, Paige, and I) arrived at Luke, Josh, and my cousin Nicholas’s house (the 245). After greeting each other, we got the pumpkins out of Josh’s car, and Josh grabbed his power tools. 

Once we were settled and had decided what we wanted to carve, we got to work. Nicholas grabbed a power tool, and I got a video of him cutting into the pumpkin. He said, “Imagine if we had these when we were 12.” Apparently, that's a quote from Grownups. Nicholas’s pumpkin said “Walmart,” which is an inside joke that I'm not aware of. Ryan carved the Jimmy Neutron character Carl Weezer into his pumpkin. Luke made a house, and Paige, Josh, and I made faces. Josh’s was a pretty standard jack-o’-lantern (though it leaned more on the creepy side), and Josh helped Paige skin parts of her pumpkin, so it made the face have an incredible amount of detail. I made swirls for the eyes of my jack-o'-lantern, but the left eye fell out, which made it look cooler. We had finished by 2:30.

That day was also Emerald’s third birthday. At 12:30 Colorado time, August and Barbara were trying to get Emerald to take a nap before the birthday party when August’s phone began to buzz. She answered my FaceTime call, and while Paige couldn’t talk to Emerald for too long before she fell asleep, it was still a highlight! 

At 8:45 that night, Paige and I got back into our costumes from Rob and Melodey’s Halloween Party (Shrek and Donkey), and 10 minutes later Mom and Dad picked us up. We went to a bar called Natalie’s, which, ironically, the last time it appeared in my writings, was when I announced Emerald’s birth. Natalie’s was hosting a show called Halloween Hootin' Nanny. Bands chose a specific band to cover and dressed up as them while they performed. Cousin Simple chose Weezer. 

As Paige and I walked up to the bar, I noticed a woman that I thought I recognized, talking to another woman. I opened my phone and sent a text: Are you at Natalie’s in Grandview? After I sent it, I looked up at the woman and saw her react to my text. My coworker Lexi looked around and eventually saw Paige and me. She and her friend, Grace, who I’ve heard a lot about in the year I’ve known Lexi, walked up to us, and we talked for a few minutes. 

As Lexi, Grace, Paige, and I were talking, Cousin Simple was announced as the next band. As they were setting up, I realized why Ryan carved Carl Weezer into his pumpkin. The band was covering Weezer (the band), but they were all dressed as Carl Weezer. Which I thought was hilarious. 

Here’s the thing: the main thing that I have done to celebrate Halloween throughout my adult life so far is a costume party with my family (that has admittedly fallen off since 2025). While I really want to get that back up and running, that alone hasn't been enough. I said in 2 Fall Fests that fall is my favorite season. A big part of that is Halloween. I think that sometimes between work deadlines, rent payments, and just general adulting, it’s easy to forget how to have fun. This was the best Halloween I have had in a decade, and it was very satisfying to reconnect with my inner child. 

Have A Greattastic Day And Be Safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 24.5: The Halloween Party

 The Halloween Party

Before we get into this mini installment, a little bit of housekeeping. Paige and I haven’t really seen each other consistently since Nicole’s wedding. After our wedding, Paige started working toward becoming a manager at Panera, and while that is about to pay off, she's been working a ton of night shifts. We wanted to plan a costume for Halloween, but because we don’t see each other that much, when we do, there are more important things to talk about and do. Our friend Rob (whose wife, Melody, was my childhood neighbor) invited us to a Halloween party with his church group the day before the holiday,  and so I quickly got costumes. We were Shrek and Donkey.

On Friday, October 30th, 2026, at around 8:30, Paige and I walked up to the house and saw Rob dressed as Spider-Man and Melody dressed as Mary Jane Watson. As we talked, I noticed a guy I knew from high school, whom we will call Spencer. All 5 of us spent the night talking and catching up, and Paige, Melody, and Rob were all a bit taken aback by some of Spencer and my high school stories. 

I’m writing this mini installment for two reasons. 1. I got Spencer’s number at the end of the night, and we are planning to hang out soon. Also, as a side note, this is the second Spencer that I’ve met at an event for this church that I’ve become friends with. Which, like, isn’t absurd, but… weird that it’s happened twice. 2. I hate the way that I’ve previously written Rob and Melody. In my first book, Melody is Aspen’s best friend and Greg’s sister. Both Greg and Aspen, however, remain very relevant after Miracle Child, and Melody really just continues to exist. And while she's been more relevant in this series, outside of her own wedding, she's only appeared alongside Greg. While Greg is still a big part of my life, I typically only see him once every two years. The only exceptions to that have been the year of his wedding, the year of Melody and Rob’s, and this year (Paige and mine). And now that Paige and I are married, I don’t really see that two-year pattern breaking anymore. What I’m saying is I haven’t done a great job depicting my relationship with Melody and Rob outside of Greg’s shadow, even though in reality it has grown far beyond that, and I want to do better with that.

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 24: Pumpkin Show

 Pumpkin Show

The day after the events of Friends Of Noah 2, Sunday, the 18th, Noah messaged me to say that Kayla, the girl he was seeing, wanted to go on a double date with me and Paige. After a week of deliberations, we decided to go to the Circleville Pumpkin Show. Elana and I met up on Monday, October 19th at Crimson Cup as we hadn’t seen each other in two months. As we talked, I told her about how I had met Kayla and that we were planning a double date. I also told her that Noah was interested in meeting her.

Noah goes through reading my blog in chunks. He reads a lot at once, then stops, and after a while (probably a year to a year and a half or so), he binges through it to the present day. Last year I read The Shining (at Noah’s suggestion), and now whenever I read a Stephen King book, or I recommend a book to him, Noah and I have a book club over voice memo. I am currently listening to The Talisman, so we are talking a lot more. During the week between planning the pumpkin show excursion and Talisman updates, Noah told me he had caught up on my wedding blogs and made it all the way through Stuck On The Moon, Pts. 1 and 2. He said, “I love how you wrote about it. Your love just emanates from the page.” 

On the morning of Saturday, October 24th, 2026, Paige and I went out to eat breakfast, then went to Target to get a gift (it was Miranda’s birthday), then we drove to my parents' house to get a gift bag, as Mom has plenty. By the time we were leaving my parents' house, it was about 12:00. We were supposed to pick Noah and Kayla up at 1:30. While we were in the car, driving back to the apartment, Noah called me and said that Kayla was not feeling well, so she would not be able to come. While that was disappointing, we still decided to go. 

When I was a little kid, I went to a pumpkin patch. All I remember is a giant orange trampoline and that the area itself wasn't crowded. For some reason, I thought that this memory was from the Circleville Pumpkin Show. It wasn't until we arrived that I realized this pumpkin patch wasn't the show. The best way to explain the pumpkin show is a citywide food festival. Granted, I’m not great with geography, so I’m not sure if it was the whole city, but I digress. Noah, Paige, and I walked around, ate from a couple of food trucks, and overall had a great time. About halfway through our day, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and to my surprise, Elana and Leo stood behind me. “Oh my gosh, hi!” I exclaimed. 

“Hi,” Elana said, hugging me. Paige hugged Leo, then Elana, and as Leo came to hug me, Elana reintroduced herself to Noah. Again, using her real name, not her pseudonym. We talked for a few minutes, and after that, Noah and Elana confirmed to each other what I had told each of them (that they wanted to hang out). Elana said, “Maybe we can meet up at Crimson Cup. Mitchell and I meet up there all the time!” 

I saw the recognition pass across Noah’s face, and after they exchanged numbers and Elana and Leo walked away, Noah asked me, “Is (pseudonym) that Elana person from Crimson Cup Reunion?” 

“Yes!” I replied. While I don't know what will come of this, I am very happy that two of my friends are getting to know each other, and I hope to make more connections. 

Have A Greattastic Day And Be Safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 23: Friends Of Noah 2

 Friends Of Noah 2

Noah couldn’t come to my birthday dinner this year as he has in years past. In his place, I invited my former classmate Elana and her then-boyfriend (now fiancé), Leo. Elana has been following Rules for a Greattastic Life since the beginning, so she knew about Noah coming to the dinner. At the end of the night, she made a comment to the effect of, “Wow, I get to be Noah this year.” After she continued and made her point about feeling like “the stuff of legend,” I asked her if she had even met Noah. “Very briefly at your wedding,” she replied, “but I would like to get to know him!”

Noah was also out of town for his birthday, but he still wanted his friends to celebrate with him. He scheduled a hangout for Saturday, October 17, 2026. Paige and I walked into the house shortly after Emilia and Jake (the couple who got married in Stuck On The Moon, Pts. 1 & 2) did. Then came Noah's other friends: Nora, Owen Blake, and finally a girl he's been seeing recently; we will call her Kayla. 

Now, despite this installment being called Friends of Noah 2, and it being centered around the same party as the original installment, this is not the best example of a sequel to Friends Of Noah 1. A better example is Stuck On The Moon Pts. 1 & 2, both in terms of what I originally planned and what it ended up being. Obviously, no matter what, Stuck On The Moon was built around the wedding of one of Noah's friends who was introduced in Friends Of Noah 1. But my car breaking down, and the kindness and support of the people who showed up for us, interrupted the original theme of what I was planning, going into the wedding. Let me explain: 

On Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026, I called Noah. The original idea was to discuss our plans for driving to Pittsburgh that weekend, but as often happens, Noah and I began talking about other things as well. One thing we talked about was how awesome Emilia is/how excited we were for her wedding, and how many great friends Noah has made. As we went on, it shifted to talking about our relationship. 

As you know, Noah and I met in 2019, shortly after Arden moved to Colorado, and the other Andersons began to move away. As you may recall, my original plan for Season 2 was to use Elena and my classmate Anna, and Noah as templates for building new friendships post-childhood. Not that I wasn’t going to put all the effort I could into those relationships; I just wanted more on top of them. Side note: Anna got married in April of this year, and she and I haven’t really seen each other since we both got engaged in 2025. COVID, of course, stopped me from making any progress on new relationships outside of those 2. 

As Noah and I talked, I explained that while I was happy with our friendship, I was sad I hadn’t made many more friends since we met. He agreed that he wanted more friends and then we decided to talk about planning outings together to try to make new friends while we drove to Pittsburgh. 

One of Paige’s cousins got engaged, so we had to leave Noah’s party early. As Paige and I hugged everyone, and I thought about how great it was to see them, I remembered what Noah and I had planned and what Elana had said about Noah. As we were about to leave, I said, “Hey, remember how we were going to try to make some new friends together?” 

“Yeah!” He said. 

“Well,” I said, “You met someone at my wedding who would really like to get to know you more!” 

“Who?” He asked. I gave Noah her real name (not her pseudonym, Elana), and he replied, “Oh yeah! She seemed cool! I would love to hang out with her!” 

To Be Continued…

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…