First-time flyer

First-time flyer

I have been on three really big trips in the last two weeks. Cousin Simple played in Nashville (which was awesome by the way), then after that I went to Hatteras, North Carolina with my family. I then decided last week, to take a flight down to Orlando, Florida, where (some of) dad’s family lives.

I have flown before, but there was something special about this time… This was the first time that I've ever flown on my own. I wasn't nervous, I was actually a little too confident. I got to the airport at about 6:30 in the morning on Thursday. My flight left around 8:00, and I got to Orlando around 10:00. I texted my family group chat, and told them that landed, thinking that would be the end of it. 

I hadn't even gotten off the plane when dad called me. He asked me how the flight was and we talked for a few minutes. He told me to to call him if I got lost. Now everyone was telling me the Orlando airport was big and confusing. Mom had told me just to follow the crowd out of the airplane directly to the baggage claim, and my aunt would pick me up right outside.I told Dad that was the plan, and then I got off the plane. 

The crowd entered the airport with me following close behind. I don’t really know how it happened, but I lost "my crowd". I asked one of the ticket agents where I needed to go. She told me to walk down a big hallway, get on the tram, and then go downstairs. I immediately called Dad. “Wait, where is the tram?” I asked, He laughed and then helped me get to it. I made it to the baggage claim, where my aunt picked me up. 

I was really confident getting on that airplane. I thought I could do it all by myself, but I couldn't.  Not without a little help. Always remember to ask for help when you need it! 

Have A Greattastic Day! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Elizabeth

 Elizabeth

Random blog today! I'm actually in Florida right now to honor a friend of mine. She passed away about 6 years ago and I've been talking to her sister for a while. We will be meeting tomorrow and will go to a fountain that was erected in her name, then we will be going to her grave. Her sister asked me if I would be willing to write in a little “memory book” at her grave. I said I would and I typed it out just so I knew what I would say. Mom thought it was too long (to be fair she was right), and I would just have to take a small passage from it. I still have the document written and I didn't have a blog to write for this week… so here you go: 

When I was a kid, I was in love with this girl named Sam. Unfortunately she had a rare blood disorder called fanconi anemia. On October 15th 2009, Sam passed away. Over the next 6 months, two more children in my community passed away. These events shook me to my core.

My dad grew up in Florida, and his best friend growing up was Mr. (Martin) Buckley. The summer after Sam died, we went to Florida and saw the Buckley family. I was immediately drawn towards Elizabeth. As the night went on I started to realize there were some similarities between Elizabeth and Sam. These similarities caused me to act strangely around Elizabeth. She eventually caught on and asked me what was wrong.

I told her everything, and in typical Elizabeth fashion she told me everything would be okay (though she said it a little more eloquently). She was amazingly insightful for her age. As a result of the hope she gave me, my life indeed started to get better. Then she got sick.

All I wanted to do was talk through my feelings with Elizabeth, but her passing made me lose all hope. During these difficult times, I missed a Sam's Fans event. Sam's Fans, started by Sam's mom, is a nonprofit organization that raises money to support music and art therapy in Ohio hospitals. After missing this event, I started feeling guilty because Sam was my best friend. All I wanted was to “talk” to Elizabeth so I looked up her obituary. After a little more digging, I discovered a glimmer of hope during these trying times- John Michael’s Peacock Project (the fountain being erected in her name).

The project itself resurrected the hope Elizabeth gave me and I officially joined Sam’s Fans. Elizabeth Buckley was an amazing human being, a good friend, and the person who I credit for getting my life back on track!

Have a Greattastic Day 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Finding Strength Within

Finding Strength Within

Hello guys! My name is Aspen Anderson and I am one of Mitchell’s “sisters”. This week I decided to give Mitchie a much needed break and takeover the blog. He is currently in North Carolina right now on vacation and I am here in boring old Columbus, Ohio. Just kidding, it’s not too bad *insert nervous laughter*. Anyway, I think this blog is an awesome platform Mitchell has created and I am honored to be able to partake in this component of his Greattastic adventure. In this blog, I thought I would share a bit of my experience when it comes to relationships with others, but most importantly yourself.

I am relatively young, and hopefully still have a long and eventful life ahead of me, but so far one would think my mistakes and obstacles have been/are at a minimum. I suppose this is true, but recently I have been analyzing my past decisions and choices, not to define myself by these, but to observe, learn, and grow from them. One that stands out to me in particular, would be when I made the decision of entering into an unhealthy and toxic relationship, which I would later learn taught me one of the most important lessons of my life so far.

Relationships are a necessary and essential aspect in one’s life. People are able to connect on an emotional, spiritual, and physical level, allowing growth both as individuals and as a society. However, on the other hand relationships can also turn into harmful situations, similar to that of the self centered relationships we see today. First relationships always have that negative connotation of being awkward, short, or experimental but my first relationship was unfortunately, not like this at all.

The guy I was “dating” was involved in the wrong crowd, the wrong substances, basically the wrong everything. Needless to say it took a toll on my health in all aspects; it ruined friendships, it broke bonds with family members, loss of work, and the list goes on. Despite all the chaos my life had now become, I found peace and strength not only through God’s blessing of an amazing support system, but also accepting that this awful situation taught me more about myself and that it needed to happen in order for me to get to where I should be; mentally, physically, and spiritually. I am still working on getting to that point but this relationship and its after effects allowed me to grow in ways I never thought possible. For example, the relationship was based on both parties, but mainly myself, being extremely insecure and feeling like I needed the toxic relationship as a result of him making me feel wanted, beautiful, and worthy. These attributes are something that another person cannot give you. They might be able to give you a false sense of security, but if you are not happy with yourself, then how can you expect to be happy with someone else?

To some degree, we all struggle to love ourselves. In our society, it is hard not to be insecure especially with the unreachable standards we feel compelled to follow. This relationship allowed me to see that the relationship with self is so important, if not the most important relationship. I was able to realize my worth, my value, and learn to respect myself.

 It was through that difficult and unfortunate situation that I was able to grow and try to help others see their value as well. In conclusion, know that you are an amazing individual that deserves love and respect from others, but most importantly yourself.

Cousin Simple

Cousin Simple

My brother Ryan and I have always been really close. In fact, if you exclude S.M, I consider him to be my best friend. Growing up we would always play with my now “sisters” and we all had many adventures. But as of late Ryan has started a new adventure with new friends, and while I'm along for the ride, this is their story:

As I mentioned a few blogs ago, my Aunt Cyndi is an awesome dancer. The summer of my fourth grade year (Ryan’s second), Cyndi had a start of summer dance party at our house. (Cyndi- we need to do this again… Next summer… I'll call you). We invited a ton of people including one of Ryan's best friends Will and his family. The playlist created by Cyndi started blasting at about 5 pm, and did not end until after midnight. It was here that I saw it for the first time… Will had this energy that made him the natural life of the party. Now I don't really believe in destiny, but I think Will was always going to end up being a performer. 

When Will and Ryan were in seventh grade they met a boy named Mitch. He joined their little group, and the three became ever closer. On their last day of school in 8th grade, they performed a few songs at the end of school mass and they had a private “concert” for their class. The three started writing music together and eventually put some songs out on Soundcloud.

Groove U is a two year music college. Every year they host a battle of the bands. It's called the “instaband” competition, the idea being if you win it… you're a band. The boys entered the competition with Will as the lead singer, Mitch on keyboard & ukulele, Ryan on lead guitar, and their friend from school, Luke on drums.

Cousin Simple’s first performance was amazing for many reasons. Because of Soundcloud, everybody in the crowd knew the songs word for word.  What was even more amazing was the band itself. The stage presence was incredible, because of the energy that they brought. Watching them play for the first time I felt like I was watching strangers;  they were like completely different people. 

After they on the Instaband competition, they took off. They played show after show, and to date they have released 13 songs. Eventually Luke moved to rhythm guitar and they got a new drummer, Joel. I'm writing this now because on Monday (7/8/19) Cousin Simple is playing a show in NASHVILLE TENNESSEE!!! I believe this is proof that with a little hard work and dedication anything you want is possible. Good luck boys and… Ryan break a leg not a lung. 

Have a Greattastic Day 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri