Mitchmas 27, Part 2: The Last Pizza Night
As I mentioned in my first book, The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child, the Anderson family, and my family would have a weekly date night when we were very little. On Thursday, the Anderson girls would come to my parents' house, and Rich and Barbara would go on a date. The following Thursday, Rich and Barbara would watch all the kids, and my parents would go out. The Andersons would always get pizza because it was just logistically easier with my autistic palette. After date nights stopped happening, the Andersons would still have pizza night every Thursday, and when I became friends with them again, I started joining them for pizza night. I attended pizza night, from the Miracle Child events until I started working at Kroger.
Now Rich and Barbra are trying to sell their house. In Rich’s own words, “It's just a pipedream right now,” so nothing is really set in stone as of the posting of this installment, but the move is, at the very least, the backdrop for this story.
On Saturday, August 24th, Paige and I were at her parent's house doing laundry around noon before Arden, Aspen, and Marshall came up from Cincinnati. After the three older Andersons permanently moved away after Covid, Mitchmas has been on a two-year cycle. 2021 was a big year, 2022 was a more subdued year, and last year was a big year, so I decided to lean into the cycle. This year, we planned to hang out at my parent’s house and have a very low-key night. We got to Meadow Park Drive around 3:00, and the girls and Marshall arrived shortly after.
Paige and I walked out of my parents' house and greeted Arden, Aspen, Marshall, and Barbara. After a little bit of spontaneous dancing, we went to the Andersons' backyard. While we were there, Kid arrived after having moved into a new apartment. We all talked for about 45 minutes before Paige and I went to the store to get drinks. Paige and I returned from Kroger at 5:00; unfortunately, Arden was not feeling well.
The night began to unravel pretty quickly from there. Marshall made sure that Arden was okay, and the rest of us sat around, unsure what to do. By 7:30, we were sure that Arden was down for the count, but everyone else was getting hungry. “We should get pizza,” Aspen suggested.
“It'll be the last pizza night…” I said in a reflective tone.
We ordered the pizza, and Barbara and Aspen drove to pick it up at 8:00. At 8:10, they returned and yelled that pizza had arrived to gather us all in the kitchen. To everyone's surprise, Arden stumbled down the stairs, and we all started screaming excitedly as she joined us. As we screamed and ate, Marshall capitalized on the chaos by turning into an inspirational speaker. This went on for about 20 minutes, so I can't tell you everything that was said, but the gist was, “YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE! YOU GOT TO MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY DAY!” It was super cheesy, but it was hilarious. As he riled us up, we started playing catch with lemons, oranges, anything we could find, really. It was pure pandemonium.
As things settled down, I looked around the kitchen at my friends. As Rich said, it's just a pipe dream right now; it might not happen… but I'm fairly confident it will. So many Greattastic things happened in that house. I mean, I've literally written three books about it… I looked around at my best friends and my entire world. I felt a little sad that the house would be gone soon. I thought back on all the amazing things we did growing up and have even done in the last 5 years, and I am so happy that we have had so many memories in this house, from the recording of Miracle Child to this last pizza night.
Have a Greattastic Day and Be Safe
J. Mitchie Ulibarri.
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