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
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