Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 12: Anna Returns

 Anna Returns

In my installment “Coffee Shop Surprise” I introduced you to my friend since kindergarten, Anna. At that point, she and I had just recently reconnected and we were having breakfast couple times a month. I introduced her in that installment because she and I had talked about us starting to hang out more than just the occasional breakfast.

At the time Marshall and I were planning to fly out to Colorado to surprise August and Arden for Arden’s birthday! Because I was aware of the Colorado plan, Anna and I planned to start hanging out more frequently when I got back. Unfortunately, Ohio shut down for Covid the day that Marshall and I got back.

While Covid delayed Anna and my plans, she wasn't completely out of my life. In “The Goodbye Anderson Special” I said that my “sister” Aspen was, “one of the main reasons that I survived the (at the time) last 19 months.” Anna was the other half of that equation. Throughout 2020, Anna and I would have weekly phone calls, to keep ourselves sane.

We kept in touch at the beginning of 2021 and we even went to S.M.’s grave and ate ice cream to celebrate her birthday last year. After that I got busy with finally publishing “The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child,” Anna had to do finals and we both remained pretty busy until the following fall.

By the time I got back in touch with Anna, she told me that she was moving to Idaho, from January-March for her occupational therapy clinicals. The last time I saw Anna was when Cousin Simple played Jingle Jam with AJR and Spencer Sutherland. At the end of the show when we were almost at the door I saw Mom and I told Anna and her best friend, Jordan, I had to go. I hugged both of them goodbye and told Anna, “I'll see you in March!” Anna smiled and walked out the door to begin her next adventure…

We talked a few times throughout Anna’s time in Idaho, though it was minimal because we were both busy. In early April, Noah and I went to a Blue Jackets hockey game. When we were heading to our seats we ran into Anna. “Hey,” I asked after we caught up for a few minutes, “when are we going to hang out?”

It took us a while, like two whole months to actually make our schedules work, but we finally decided to hang out on June 11th. We got coffee and met up at a local park and hung out just like old times. While it has taken a little over two years, I hope that Anna and I can now resume our pre-covid plans!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 11: Meet The Ulibarris

 Meet The Ulibarris

Before our first date, Gabby and I decided to talk to each other over zoom. On the day that we had scheduled the zoom for, I decided to tell my family that I was talking to someone. When I told Mom she said, “I think we should meet her sooner rather than later.” I understood that she wanted to meet her because she was nervous as a result of the restraining order I have on my ex, Ishana.

Gabby’s mom died when she was 14 and her dad died shortly after we started talking. Gabby graduated from Silver Oak College with a Bachelor of Music Education on May 7th. I was invited along with her Grandma. After meeting literally all the family she has in the world, I decided to ask Gabby if she wanted to meet my family. This became even more necessary when she officially became my girlfriend The following Monday (May 9th).

Even though it took a while for it to happen it finally did last Monday, June 6th. She got to my apartment at 3:00 p.m. It was raining super hard so we waited until the rain stopped to go to the Columbus Park of Roses. If you haven't been there and you are ever in Columbus it's a really cool place, though I might have oversold it to Gabby. 

We got to my parents' house at 6:30 and I pulled up behind Ryan's car. We walked around back and I introduced Gabby to Mom, Dad, Pop-pop (who was still here from Luke's graduation), Ryan, Luke, and Josh. When dinner was ready we said grace and began eating. We talked and told stories for a couple of hours and both my family and my girlfriend really liked each other. Though I will admit it was kind of weird for me because I'm used to Josh's girlfriend Sophia coming for dinner, so it was surreal to suddenly be the one whose girlfriend was over.

To celebrate my cousin Paige's wedding, Last October I did a two-part installment. The first one was a flashback to that previous summer when I first met her husband (Paige's Wedding Part 1: Naughstin) and the second one was the wedding itself (Paige's Wedding Part 2: Doesn't Get Any Cooler Than That). As I was writing part 1, I made an effort to specifically mention Ishana. From that installment on I sporadically released details about the breakup/restraining order.

The reason I did that is because I knew that eventually I would get a new girlfriend and no matter who she ended up being, I knew that the trauma inflicted on me by Ishana, would be very important to my next relationship. Specifically, my next girlfriend would need to be more stable than my previous. Gabby has proved herself to be that in many ways that frankly I just can't fit in a single installment.

But what is important for this installment is Ishana only met my brothers a few times and I was stressed during each encounter. When she did meet my parents, It was after the breakup, and she was stalking me when I was working at Kroger one night, and Mom just happened to be shopping. I know it's a small thing, but it just feels huge that Gabby actually met my family and it was a positive experience!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 10: Wicked

 Wicked

As the Box Seats played at Luke's graduation party someone shook me. I turned around to see Kid and to my surprise Aspen, who had come to Columbus that day for a photo shoot, as she is about to graduate from realty school. As the party was wrapping up, Kid and Aspen told me that they had a salsa dance to go to and they asked me if I wanted to come. I went and while I don't have time to write a full installment about it, I just wanted to mention it here because it was a fun night. At the end of the night, I said goodbye to Aspen and told Kid, “I'll see you tomorrow. 5:30 sharp!”

Marshall’s grandma (Granny) lives a few blocks away from Shane and I. She has season tickets to Broadway shows at the Ohio Theater. In fact, I almost went to a show with her and Marshall around Christmas, but I got the day wrong and accidentally created a conflict in my schedule (I feel really bad about that). When Wicked came to town, Marshall invited me to come with him, Granny, and his siblings, Isaac and Chloe. Isaac however had to unexpectedly go out of state so Marshall invited Kid.

I went to the Anderson’s house, met up with Kid, Marshall and Chloe, and we picked up Granny. I have mentioned Chloe before, though not by name. The installment in which she appeared was called “The Coronapocalypse” and as the name suggests that was when Covid hit Ohio. Since Covid was the main focus of that installment I did not have room to develop her character, which is a real shame.

Marshall and his siblings love Star Wars. So much so that he can quote entire scenes from the movies. I have a video from around the same time as “The Coronapocalypse,” with Marshall and Chloe quoting back and forth the climactic scene of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and me turning the camera to myself as I say “There's two of them… HELP ME!” The more I see them together the more I believe that Chloe is literally just the female version of Marshall.

I’m pretty sure Chloe's purpose in life is to embarrass Marshall. She literally has a folder on her phone that consists of embarrassing videos and photos of Marshall that she is going to release at his wedding. While I cannot tell you what is in this folder (Though once Chloe releases it all bets are off) some of these videos are hilarious! She spends the rest of her time when she is with us talking about how much of a “troubled child” Marshall was. Marshall is a very professional (if not somewhat ridiculous) person so hearing about the shenanigans he got into as a kid is the best.

I think what Chloe does for Marshall is the same reason I liked Wicked so much. I kind of knew what it was going to be about based on its relation to the Wizard of Oz, and my theater nerd girlfriend Gabby, but going into it I didn't have any expectation of what it was going to be. For those of you who have not seen Wicked, it is half an origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West and Half a Retelling of the 1939 Movie from her perspective.

While the Wicked Witch of the West is an iconic villain, in comparison to someone like Darth Vader she is not very developed as a character. The entire show adds a level of dimension to her character that makes her someone who is not just evil for evil’s sake. That is my favorite part of storytelling in general, figuring out the psychology of a character, fictional or otherwise!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri 

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 9: Graduation, Box Seats, and Chicago

 Graduation, Box Seats, And Chicago

On May 27th, Mom, Dad, my grandpa Pop-pop, Josh, Ryan, and I were sitting in our seats early for  Luke's graduation Mass at St. Charles Preparatory High School. Knowing that I would be a mess if we actually had a conversation about it, a few minutes before the Mass started, Ryan leaned over to me and asked, “Did Mom and Dad tell you I'm moving to Chicago In July?”

I had enough time to ask him a few questions before the graduates processed in and Mass started. Towards the end of the Mass, all 134 people in Luke's class received their diplomas. After everyone got theirs, the Mass ended everyone cheered and the graduates threw their caps.

The next day was Luke and his and Josh's bandmate Freddy's joint graduation party at Dad’s art Studio, Kobolt. Their band “Box Seats” were playing it. After posting my last installment “The Spencer Rule,” I drove to my parent's house and was met by my cousin Austin. Eventually, Mom came home and picked us up. 

The studio looked awesome and as people started to arrive I began to mingle. I talked to all of my extended family, my parent's college best friends, Ron and Anita, and their daughter, Maya, my childhood friends Megan and Rachel, and Josh's girlfriend Sophia. Eventually, Box Seats started playing. They played a ton of cover songs and four original songs, “Old Friends,” “Almost There,” “Winter,” and “Offside.” It was surreal because this mirrored my graduation party 4 years ago when Luke and I played an original song together.

It was a good day and a really fun celebration not just of Luke and his graduation, but because of how recently I had found out, the pending changes coming to Ryan's life too. I am so proud of my family and the things that I know that they will accomplish!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe.

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Speaking of changes before I end this installment I have to talk about New Story a bit. My two bosses, Kathy (who got me the job), and Jason (who was my English teacher and is a major reason that I like writing so much), have left New Story. Both of them found jobs at other schools, and Kathy is moving to Seattle! I wish both of them the best of luck and I want to thank them for everything that they have done for me! I love you guys, and I will miss you.