Season 7 To Be An Advocate Blog 16: Final Family Introductions

 Final Family Introductions

Key: In this installment, Paige B= my cousin Paige

In the installment I wrote about Paige and my 1-year anniversary (Spring Break 2024 Part 1: Paige And My 1-Year Anniversary), I said, “Originally, over my spring break, I wanted to take a trip to Florida so she (Paige) could meet my family and we could still have the weekend to enjoy our anniversary. However, Paige's spring break started before mine, so we decided to go on a weekend trip to Hocking Hills…” The only reason I brought up this failed plan was because I knew we were planning on still making the trip over the summer.

On July 19, 2024, Paige and I arrived at the Orlando airport at 5:00 p.m. and made our way to the rental car counter by 5:45. We got to my Aunt Eva and Uncle Zach’s house at 6:40 and by 7:00, Eva, Zach, Paige, my grandpa, Pop-pop, his partner Sara, and I were at a local restaurant called F & D Italian Kitchen.

The next morning, Paige and I went to a restaurant for brunch called the White Wolf with my dad’s high school best friend’s oldest daughter, Madison, and her husband, Clay. While I have mentioned Madison and her sisters Elizabeth and Blinne, both in this series and in my second book, I have not said that I see them as my “cousins” in kinda the same way I see the Anderson women as my “sisters.” This is mainly because I’ve seen Dad interact with their dad the same way I interact with August, Arden, Aspen, and Kid. In any case, I see them as family.

Right after brunch, Paige and I met Eva and Zach at the Peacock fountain dedicated to Elizabeth and walked around a farmer’s market in the area. After walking around the farmers market for a while, we went to a pizza place called Lazy Moon Pizza, and I got the biggest slice of pizza ever, and then we swam in Eva and Zach’s pool for the rest of the day.

Eva has always ridden horses. Fun fact: She currently owns a horse that is the great-great-grandchild of Secretariat! Anyway, there is another horse at Eva’s stable that was pregnant, and on the night of the 19th, she gave birth. So after I got back from Mass on Sunday, Eva, Zach, Paige, and I went to see the new baby horse. It was super cute, and its legs were too long for its body, so the coordination was off (autistic rambling).

After we saw Eva’s horse and left the stable, we got breakfast, And I got two giant pieces of French toast! I wasn't trying to, but I really overate on the trip. At 1:30, we went to Paige B’s house. The people in attendance were my Aunt Alicia, Uncle Paul and Alexander (Paige B’s parents and brother), Austin (Paige B’s husband… You, the audience, know him as Naughstin), Paige B and Naughstin’s 1-year-old son Bentley (though he wasn't feeling good), Alexander's girlfriend Alexa, Pop-pop, and Sara, and my grandma and her husband Joe.

I went around introducing Paige to everyone that she had not met yet. When we got to Uncle Paul, He introduced himself to her like a normal person, then saw me and yelled, “MITCHELL ULIBARRI!” He then ran up to me, picked me up by my right arm and leg, and threw me over his shoulder. As Paige and I continued to laugh, Uncle Paul put me down, looked at Paige, and said, “So, how do you know each other?” As if nothing had happened.

Now, the last time I was in Florida was for New Year's. As I said in the installment, I wrote about that trip (Florida For New Year's); on our first night in town, we all went out to a Solar Bears minor league hockey game. At some point during that game, Uncle Paul went to the bar to get a drink, and I joined him. The last time I had seen him before that was 2021, so we had a lot to catch up on.

“So, how have you been doing, Mitchell?” he asked.

I listed off a few things and then said, “... And I have a girlfriend now.”

“What's her name?” he asked again.

“Paige,” I replied.

He pretended to be really taken aback and then whispered to me, “You know, you have a cousin named Paige, right?” I laughed, and pointed out that Paige B has a brother named Austin. Uncle Paul chuckled and said, “Well, I have to meet her before things get too serious!”

As Paige mingled with my family, I thought back to that interaction with Paul. Even in the moment, I know Paul well enough to know that he was being a little jokey with his overprotectiveness, and I knew everyone would love Paige.  Still, Paige and I have entered a point in our relationship that I've only been able to imagine up to this point. We have now (more or less) met both sides of the other's family. Now we're closer to each other than we've ever been before. And that's kind of what I wanted this summer to be; a time for us to get closer as a couple while managing our roommate relationship.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 7 To Be An Advocate Blog 15: A Reunion Of Greattastic Proportion

 A Reunion Of Greattastic Proportion

In downtown Columbus, there is a place called COSI (Center of Science Industry). Every year on July 3rd, at 10:00 p.m., fireworks are launched from a spot near COSI in an event called Red, White, & Boom! My parents' art studio, Kobolt, is less than a mile from COSI, and every year, we have a party and watch fireworks from the roof. The week before Red, White & Boom, my family, and my cousin's family went to Norris Lake again, so the party was a lot more last minute this year.

Before we continue, I need to catch you up on the Andersons. As I've mentioned, I'm subleasing from Kid this summer because she was planning to spend it in Costa Rica. Well, Arden and Aspen went with her and were planning to spend the first two weeks with her. Unfortunately, Arden and Kid got bit by mosquitoes and got really sick. They are fine now, but because it was so bad, Kid cut her journey short and is now back in town.

I have been a bad friend this year. As I explained a few installments ago, because of how intense my job is, all the drama with Shane, and how stressed I was because of that, I had to work extra hard on my relationship with Paige, and I began slacking in my other relationships. Thanksgiving last year was the last time I saw Arden, Aspen, and Marshall. Finally, as I hinted at in my first book, The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child, the girls and my family had a complicated relationship in my childhood. While it has gotten better over the years, it has never not been awkward. On July 1st, 2024, Aspen texted me and asked if they were invited to Red, White & Boom at the studio, and I said yes.

At 6:00 p.m. on the 3rd, Paige and I drove to get two giant pizzas for the party. After a slight debacle with the pizzas because it was raining and I couldn't get them into my trunk (I'm not kidding; these things were huge), Paige and I drove to Kobolt. People started arriving around 6:45, but because of the rain and how rushed the party had been, not as many people came as usual. Around 9:15, Dad started taking people up to the roof in the scissor lift as the rain had stopped. I was upset because I was convinced my friends were not coming.

At 9:30, however, I got a text from Aspen saying they had arrived. Paige and I greeted them and discovered that Arden and Marshall got married! After congratulating them, we all went to the roof and watched the fireworks. After the fireworks, we convinced my brothers to come to a bar with us. Josh couldn't go because he's under age, and Arden was worried because she forgot her ID, and even though she had a picture of it, it's still her Colorado driver’s license. We decided to try it, but as we drove by, we saw a few police officers outside the bar and realized there was no way they would let Arden in.

We decided to go back to my parents' house, and Kid joined us there. The Andersons and Marshall spent the night talking with my brothers, my parents, Paige, and me about their adventures in Costa Rica and life in general. They all even ended up spending the night at my parents' house!

For the entire time that I was slacking on my other relationships, I've known that it was a problem. As I stated in the installment Emotional Reset, I needed the space from the Shane drama so that I could well… emotionally reset. After doing that, I knew I needed to start putting more work into my relationships. Not to say that any time I spend with the Andersons isn't amazing, but this event was so ridiculous and wholesome, not to mention entertaining, even though we weren't really doing anything… It was… well, Greattastic!