Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 9: A Gregtastic Surprise

 A Gregtastic Surprise

As I’ve mentioned before, Greg Parker was my childhood neighbor on the other side of my parents' house from the Andersons, and he is my “brother” in the same way they are my “sisters.” The last time I saw him was when he, his wife, Temi, and their daughter (who we will call Blessing) came to visit us two years ago.

After our dinner at North Star, Arden drove Paige and me back to Summit Crest. We were back inside by 8:00. At 8:06, Greg texted me, “Yo, I’m in town till Monday. Want to get a drink?” I immediately called him, and eventually we decided to go to Old North Arcade the next day.

At 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 15, 2026, Greg picked Paige and me up, and we drove to the arcade. As we got in the car, we said hi and gave him his and Temi’s invite for our wedding. I couldn’t help but feel déjà vu from 24 hours before. 

When we walked into the arcade, Greg was clearly awestruck. “Have you really never been here?” I asked.

“No,” he replied with a chuckle. It made sense. I hadn’t discovered the arcade until about 9 months after his wedding, and he met Temi in college. He definitely wasn’t going to find a local bar in high school.

After getting our drinks and sitting down, Paige started digging for embarrassing childhood stories. This led us to talk about my imaginary girlfriend, Christina. While she appears in The Greattastic Adventures 2: Fractured and was “reincarnated” as Natalie in the Season 1 finale in this series, in both cases, I used her for very specific narrative reasons. In other words, Christina's “life” was a little more far-reaching than it was written in the book.

At the end of that conversation, we started playing some of the arcade games. We played Qbert, Super Mario Kart, Asteroids, and a few others. Greg and I specifically played a game of air hockey, and I think this is the only thing that I’ve ever beaten him at. When he dropped us back off at Summit Crest around 5:50, he told Paige, “Congratulations on not being imaginary!”

We got out of his car, and we waved as he drove away. Greg went to Cornell in 2016, and since then, I have only written about him 6 times. The first time is in Greattastic Adventurers 3 (which admittedly has not been published yet; I will do an update soon). His next appearance chronologically is the Season 4 installment, Groomsman (which is about him coming to town and asking me to be in his wedding). Then I did a three-part installment about his wedding, and in Season 5, I wrote an installment called Maintaining The Empire about him and me catching up after not seeing each other since the wedding. In Season 7, I wrote about his sister’s wedding, and then I wrote about when he, Temi, and Blessing came to visit (Emotional Reset). 

I’m bringing up his previous appearances because, outside of my next book, up to this point, Greg has only come back to Columbus for, or because of, a special event. The difference between Greg and, say, the Andersons is that, while we have remained at the same level of friend and they are all in different phases of life than I am, the Andersons and I have still grown together, whereas Greg is off in his own bubble. This is the first time since he got married that he and I have been able to be friends in person in normal circumstances, and I hope to continue this going forward!

Have a Greattastic day and day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT 

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 8: The Valentine’s Day Special (Test)

 The Valentine’s Day Special (Test)

I have a theory. It's been a theory I’ve held for the last couple of years, probably ever since I started working at New Story. Astrologically speaking, winter starts a few days before Christmas and lasts about 12 or 13 weeks. There are seven weeks between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. In other words, Valentine's Day is approximately halfway through winter. My theory is that the best way to fight seasonal depression (barring the eradication of daylight saving time) is to make Valentine's Day more of a Christmas-esque holiday as opposed to a Hallmark one, so people have something to look forward to.

Friday, February 12th, 2026, was a Teacher Work Day. When I was at lunch, Arden texted me and asked what Paige and I were doing that weekend. I told her that we didn’t really have any plans, and she said she was thinking about coming up. On Valentine’s Day, I got up, wished Paige a happy Valentine’s Day, recorded the podcast version of Michelle, and read the first chapter of a book a family member wrote (we will come back to that eventually), as we waited for Arden to arrive.

At 3:30, Arden texted to let us know she had pulled into Summit Crest Apartments, and we went out to meet her. After we said hi, and we  gave her her wedding invite, Arden drove us to a little coffee shop she and I used to frequent as teenagers, called The Coffee Hub. The last time I was there was in 2019, so I was expecting it to look a little different, but they had completely remodeled it, so it was almost a totally different shop!

After that, we went to a new thrift shop that a new friend Arden made told her about. On the drive there, we went through Meadow Park Drive and drove past her childhood home. “It’s so sad,”  Arden said.

“I know,” I replied, “ I haven’t been able to look at the house when I go to my parents’ place, since they (her parents) moved.”

 When we got to the new thrift shop, I had to use the bathroom almost immediately. When I was done, I saw Arden and Paige in one of the aisles. When I was younger, I would go thrifting with the Andersons, and I would sneak under the clothing rack and scare them by grabbing their ankles. Old habits die hard.

After the thrift shop, we went to North Star for dinner. During that dinner, I explained my Valentine’s Day theory and proposed that, as a group, we start celebrating Valentine’s Day together from now on!

Have a Greattastic day and day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 7: Once In A Lifetime 8 Years Later

 Once In A Lifetime 8 Years Later

My second book, Once In A Lifetime: A Song For Sam, ends with Luke and I performing a love song that I wrote for S.M. at my graduation party. When I played the song, the McCarthys obviously were the honored guests, but August, Arden, Aspen, and Kid were there too. That was 8 years ago, as of this coming May. On the week of February 8th, 2026, Mom and Dad had to go to NYC to move a temporary exhibit they had set up there. I had to watch the house and cat Sammie.

Over the last year, my “sister,” August, has done a lot. Her husband and her are in the middle of a divorce, so as that has developed, she has had to adapt to being a single mother. Throughout 2025, the other Anderson women, myself, and Rich, and Barbara (especially after they moved to Wyoming), have become a huge support for August and Emerald. On Thursday, February 12th, 2026, I was at my parents' house writing because Paige had a late shift. At around 5:50, I got a FaceTime call from August. I answered and was immediately met by the face of my “niece.”

“Uncle Mitchie,” the two-year-old exclaimed. 

“Hey Emmy,” I replied. After August said hi and we caught up, I asked Emerald, “Are you ready to be a flower girl?”

“I throw flowers at Awden, and Aspen, and Lo-lo… and YOU!” She declared.

As we continued to talk, a few more things about Emerald were revealed. She was very content bossing me around. She loved dancing around and being the center of attention. So very typical two-year-old behavior… put more accurately, very typical Anderson behavior. Based on our history, August and I thought it was a little bit funny that it almost seems to be a genetic urge to boss me around (though I’m not worried about Emerald, as August and the other Andersons have grown out of that). Toward the end of the FaceTime, August told Emerald that I have written songs, and the child got really excited about that. I sat down at the piano and played Once In A Lifetime. 

Up to this point, in my writings, Emerald has effectively just been a plot device or in some cases, just a plot point. August, coming to Ohio to tell us that she was pregnant (and then deciding against it at the last possible second), led directly to Kid and Paige living together. August not being around as much over the last few years is because she’s been figuring out this whole mom thing. In any appearance that Emerald had that didn’t have to do with those two aforementioned things (either as August’s baby bump or as herself), she just kind of existed. Mostly because she was too young to have a personality that wasn’t “generic baby.” All of the writing I do about my life isn't necessarily 100% true; it’s more like an artistic representation of the truth. What I’m saying is that while I (the author) haven’t been able to make Emerald into an actual character yet, that reflects my (the actual person’s) relationship with the person Emerald is based on.

As I played Once in a Lifetime and Emerald started humming the tune, I realized how amazing this moment was. By her relation to August, Emerald was born into my childhood friend group, but because of how age works, she is the only member who was not there when I performed it at my graduation party. Performing this song for her retroactively inserts her into that initial performance (at least from an emotional standpoint). Additionally, I was excited that I can officially consider Emerald a friend, at least in some capacity.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 6: Michelle

 Michelle

Nicole is Paige’s best friend; in fact, she is Paige’s “sister” in the same way the Andersons are mine, and she is her maid of honor. She has been a major part of Paige and my love story. First and foremost, she helped me ask Paige to be my girlfriend (The Scroll). While I mentioned her twice last season, her last full appearance was in the first part of the Season 7 finale, October-December. I wanted to take this installment to catch up with Nicole and show how she has been helping us in our engagement.

On Sunday, January 26, 2025, Paige and I took my cousins, Lexi and Caitlynn, to the mall to help Caitlynn get something for my grandpa‘s funeral the next day. Toward the end of our trip, we wanted Starbucks, and when my order came up, the barista called me “Michelle.” Then on that Friday, January 31, Paige and I went out to Pins to celebrate Clo’s birthday (They Grow Up So Fast). When we left Pins, Clo wanted Cane‘s, so we went there. I ordered, and as Paige and I were telling Clo the Starbucks story, wouldn’t you know it, one of the Cane’s employees yelled, “Order for Michelle.”

Now, earlier that month, Nicole had started dating a guy, who we’ll call Carson. The day after we hung out with Clo, Paige, and I went out to dinner with Nicole, Carson, and one of Nicole's friends at a restaurant that, ironically, was in the same mall we had been to on Sunday.

I was out here making a great first impression. The whole table was laughing, and they were all loving me, and it was awesome. Having known Carson now for over a year, I've come to the conclusion that he is a very funny person, but I don’t think he was ready for me to be as funny as I was that night. At some point, Paige told the whole Michelle story.

Now I wish I could remember the setup for this. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but after Paige told that story, Carson kept calling me “Michelle.” At some point, I said something, and Carson jokingly asked, “Michelle, are you pregnant?”

What I said next came out of my mouth before my brain had processed what I was thinking. “Yes,” I replied, “and Nicole’s the father!”

That comment solidified Carson and my friendship. And I would like to add this little bit has not stopped. Every couple of months, some random person in the food service industry, not to mention Carson, calls me Michelle, and it’s hilarious.

Nicole continues to be a major part of our story. On May 9th, 2025, Nicole kidnapped Paige, got her into the dress that she wanted to be in, got her nails painted, and drove Paige to Good Night John Boy, the bar that Paige and I had a first date at. Once Paige walked in, she and I started a scavenger hunt that ended with me proposing to her (The Scroll Of Proposal). About a month after Paige and I got engaged, Carson proposed to Nicole. Over last summer, Nicole figured out most of her and Carson’s wedding stuff, while Paige and I were getting very overwhelmed. While Paige and I were on my family vacation in July, I talked on the phone with Nicole for like an hour, and she helped me with some of the anxieties. And that is on top of the usual maid-of-honor duties. I know they already went wedding dress shopping; she has been there for some meetings we had with our parents, and she has continued to give us advice on managing wedding-planning anxiety.

There are a lot of people who are supporting Paige and I, and we appreciate all of them. Over the last few months, I’ve learned that having another 2026 bride on the team has been a huge asset for us!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

 

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 5: Snowmageddon

 Snowmageddon

This was not supposed to be the fifth installment for this season. I, in fact, have already written the installment that is now the sixth and already told the subject of that installment that it is the fifth (sorry, Nicole), but last week was too weird not to write about! On Saturday, January 24th, 2026, I picked up Noah at his apartment, and we went to a nearby Starbucks. We had been trying to hang out since Christmas, and with the blizzard expected to hit that night, we weren't sure when we'd see each other next.

“So do you think you're going to work Monday?” Noah asked.

“I think we'll get Monday off,” I said, “but I think anything else might be a bit of a stretch.”

At 4:00, I went with Paige, and my parents went to Mass at OLP. There were two reasons for this. 1. Obviously, because of the snowstorm, Paige and I were a little worried that we were not going to be able to get to our church the next day. 2. That weekend, Our Lady of Peace celebrated their 80th anniversary, and so the Bishop was the celebrant for the Mass. It was kind of weird for me because I was struggling to wrap my head around the fact that my entire time as a student and an educator there happened so early in the parish's history. Like, there's an argument to be made that in 200 years, my time at OLP could be considered part of “the early years.”

When Mass ended, Paige and I drove back to our apartment, and I put my windshield wipers up. We spent the night watching TV and keeping watch out the window, waiting for the first snowflakes to fall. Now Paige and my apartment complex, Summit Crest Apartments, is huge, but it's kind of tucked away. I've driven/ridden my bike past it since I was a teenager (though probably before that), but I didn’t know it was there until Paige and I signed our first lease. Honestly, I wouldn't even call it Columbus, it's kind of like its own little pocket Universe.

Anywho, because it's so blocked off, we have a private snowplow operator. On Monday, the 26th, not sure if I had to go to work the next day, I went out to see if my car could actually get out, and it had been completely boxed in by the snowplow. Mom and Dad came to help me out just in case, and I was really thankful for that. I did not have to go to school the next day. In fact, I did not have to go to school until February 2. Because of this, while I know other things that happened during this week, I have no sense of when they happened. 

One day, Paige wasn't feeling too good, so I had to trudge through this shin-deep snow to get her some Pedialyte from a nearby store. On another day, we met up with Nicole at Roosters to talk about wedding stuff (which, honestly, is a good lead-in to next week's installment; I'm kind of glad it happened this way now that I think about it). Paige and I also figured out how many invitations we need to send out for the wedding, and I did a ton of writing. I worked on upcoming projects, talked to Kid about the cover for Greattastic Adventures 3, wrote the first six installments for this season, and recorded the first three.  Also, this isn't important at all, but I kind of want to vent. I had no idea that you could schedule podcast posts until I released For Papa. Like, oh my gosh, that's going to make posting days so much easier now, cuz I can just upload the podcast beforehand, but I'm just really upset that I'm figuring this out 9 seasons in!

When I was a kid, after a shower I would turn the water off, grab a towel, cover myself in it like a blanket, lay on floor and take like a 10 minute power nap, much to the dismay of my father (I don't think he knew what I was doing), and then I would continue with my day as if nothing happened. A few months ago, Paige asked me, “Why do you always take so long in the car?” What I'll do is park, and she will get out of the car, and I will scroll on social media for anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes before she calls me and asks what's going on. The answer to both of these situations is that transitioning is hard for autistic people. The transition from warm (the shower) to being naked and cold is… I don't know… scary feels like a dramatic word, but I can't think of another one right now. And when I sit in the car, it's not that I don't want to get out; it just takes me a bit to actually do it. While transitions are a pretty big problem, I think there's another issue, too.

Time is a social construct. Yes, for astrological purposes, there are mornings, noons, and nights; throughout the year, the seasons change, and cause and effect are real things, but the fact that I am writing this sentence at 11:37 on a Thursday in January of 2026 is genuinely nonsense. It doesn't mean anything. Time exists to keep society moving, and while that is necessary, it is not something that autistic people innately understand. We feel like we get it when our schedules are running normally, but as soon as snowmageddon hits, we lose all sense of time. Or at the very least, I did.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 4: Swimmer’s Ear Update 2

 Swimmer’s Ear Update 2

Growing up, I was notorious for getting ear infections. I probably had one every couple of months, and it got so bad that I needed to get tubes put in 3 times. In 2019, my immediate family and my cousin’s family, the Mitreys, went on a vacation to Hatteras, North Carolina. At one point, Ryan, Nicholas, Josh, and I had a chicken fight. Nicholas and I were the tops, and as we were roughhousing, Nicholas grabbed my head and slammed it into the water, right ear first. After that, I had complications with my right ear whenever I went into the water.

In the summer of 2022, my family went on a trip to the Mitrey's Lake House in Norris Lake, Tennessee. On the first day, I went tubing and fell off the tube. A wave crashed on the right side of my head, and you guessed it, my ear filled up with water. I ended up getting an ear infection, and I was miserable the entire week. Everything I have just explained was in the original Swimmer's Ear installment.

In November 2023, I had surgery with the doctor who had given me tubes when I was a kid because it turned out the tubes were the reason my eardrum was weak enough to explode in the first place. For all of 2024, in the first half of 2025, my check-ups were normal.

Around the time Paige and I got engaged, my ear felt very clogged up. My sister-in-law (is she my sister-in-law?… she’s my brother-in-law’s long-term girlfriend… not the point… anyways…), my sister-in-law, Yvanna, who is in PA school, checked my ear out, and there was an unnatural amount of earwax and fluid in there. I set up an appointment with Dr. Blaze, and he cleared my ear and scheduled another check-up. 

On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, I walked into Dr. Blaze‘s office at 7:30 am for my 7:45 appointment. I got checked in, Dr. Blaze checked me out, I opted for a hearing test (just to be safe), and then Dr. Blaze told me, “Well, everything‘s looking good. I don’t think you’ll need to see me anymore!” 

As I turned on my car and pulled out of the parking lot on my way to work, I looked at his office in my rearview mirror. I knew eventually my ear would be fine enough that I wouldn’t have to see Dr. Blaze again, but I genuinely didn't think I would do a second Swimmer Ear Update. Swimmers Ear Update 1 was necessary because the story that I followed from the original Swimmers Ear was my breakup with Gabby, so I had to go back and explain, “hey, my ear is still messed up,” before I wrote the installment about the surgery (Out Of My Mind). This epilogue, from a narrative perspective, isn’t necessary; it is implied by Out Of My Mind.

I still wrote this installment because I feel like it fits the theme of this season very well. 2019, the same year that my ear busted the first time, was when I started Rules for a Greattastic Life. In other words, even though I didn’t mention it until season 5, it has been something that I’ve been dealing with my entire young adult life, and I think that it’s fitting that this all wrapped up right before I transition into married life. 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe.

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 3: Best Man

 Best Man

Paige and I bought our books from Barnes and Noble and walked to the car. Once the car was on, I pulled up detections to Ryan’s apartment. As I began to drive, I thought back to last November. On Saturday, November 22, 2025, Paige and I got up and got ready for a pretty big day. First, we were going to meet with the priest, who is going to marry us, Father David, and then we were going to go down to Cincinnati for a Friendsgiving with my “sisters” (False Safety or Right Where We Left Off (Refresher)). 

This was the first meeting we had with Fr. David, so it was mostly just him getting to know us as a couple and getting some preliminary information about the wedding. “Who are the Best Man and Maid of Honor going to be?” he asked during the meeting.

Now, there have been many different iterations of what we thought our wedding would/should look like. In every single alternate, the only constant was that Ryan was going to be my best man, and her best friend Nicole would be Maid of Honor. We were planning on not telling either of them until we had a solidified date, which didn’t happen until this meeting. On the drive to Cincinnati, Paige and I decided that we would talk to Ryan after my Florida family went home after the holiday.

The next day, Sunday, November 23, at around 4:40 p.m., Paige and I drove to my parents' house, because Pop-pop, Sara, Eva, and Zach were already in town. When we walked into the living room, Ryan was sitting on a couch talking to Pop-pop, who was on another couch.

“Fancy seeing you here!” Pop-pop said to us. We laughed at Pop-pop‘s reference to him and Sara saving Paige and I when we got stuck in Orlando a month prior, and we hugged him. We ended up both sitting down on the couch with Ryan, and he was between us. As Paige and I had been engaged since May, the topic of the wedding came up. Once all the details that we knew about the wedding at the time were discussed, there was about a 15-second break in the conversation. At about second 11, Paige sent me a text, and it pinged my Apple Watch around second 14. It read: Maybe ask him today? At second 15, as I was still trying to process what Paige was saying, Pop-pop asked, “So who’s the best man and the maid of honor?”

I immediately got awkward, I’m pretty sure Paige started laughing, and Ryan started side-eyeing both of us. And that’s how Ryan found out that he was going to be my best man!

Paige and I parked outside of Ryan’s apartment. We walked in, played Blokus, and talked about plans for the wedding and my bachelor party, and I couldn’t help my smile. Ryan is someone who I have always looked up to, despite some weird Cousin Simple insecurities I used to have. I am happy that on Paige and my big day, Ryan will be standing next to me.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT