Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 21 Mitchmas (28) Part 2: Lost At Deer Creek

 Mitchmas (28) Part 2: Lost At Deer Creek

Now, as you know, I usually go on a Mitchmas trip with my “sisters,” the weekend after my birthday.  Arden has always been the planner for group outings, but in her happily ever after with Marshall, she has retired from that role. While I am going to start planning things for the group, even though Arden arguably gave me enough warning, I was not prepared.

On Saturday, August 23, 2025, at 1:00 pm, I went to Noah's house and, after picking him up, we drove to my old Kroger. After being stopped by at least 5 of my old coworkers, we finally got all of our snacks and were on our way. Now, a couple years ago, Noah and I went canoeing together, which in and of itself is a very funny story that I would like to tell at some point in the future. We drove from Kroger all the way to Trapper John’s in Grove City, which is just south of Columbus. 

We pulled up to Trapper John’s at around 3:00. When we walked into the welcome center, there was a group of employees playing cards. “We would like to rent a canoe, please,” I said.

“Unfortunately,” an employee said, “the river is too low, so there are no more groups going out today.”

“Well, that was a bust,” Noah said as we walked back to my car. I agreed. Despite that, we were both determined not to waste the day.

Deer Creek State Park is about an hour and a half away from Columbus, and another 20 minutes or so from Trapper John’s. We were already in our bathing suits, so we decided to go to Deer Creek Beach. We got to Deer Creek at 4:00. The State Park has a ton of trails and campgrounds, on top of having the beach. It is no surprise then that I got lost!

After another hour of driving around and a very sarcastic camper who told me, “Maybe you should follow the signs,” (which I would have done if I had seen them), we finally found the beach, and we proceeded to have an amazing day!

Like I said, usually my sisters and I do something to celebrate Mitchmas. While I am currently looking for something for us to do when all of our busy schedules line up, again, as Noah and I had our fun beach day, I realized I want to expand my Mitchmas celebrations. I love the Andersons, and I love spending my birthdays with them. But at the same time, we don't live next-door to each other anymore, and I have more friends than just them. I said in part 1 that my birthday has become more about celebrating with my friends and family than being narratively important to my overall life story. I would like to expand that to more friends in the coming years!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 20: Mitchmas (28) Part 1: The People In Your Corner

 Mitchmas (28) Part 1: The People In Your Corner

I woke up on my 28th birthday, at 6:00 a.m. After greeting our cat Charlie and saying good morning to Paige, I got ready for work. As I walked out of our apartment, I opened the Starbucks app and ordered my summer drink (a vanilla sweet cream cold brew). Usually, I get a Grande, but because it was free, I got a Venti. When I got to work, I got out of my car and pulled up the time clock app on my phone, so that I could clock in as soon as I was in the building. I put my coffee on the top of my car, where I always do, but because it was a bigger size, it was a little more weight than I was used to, and I didn’t balance it right. As my coffee poured down my car, a coworker yelled, “Merry Mitchmas!”

I picked Paige up from work at 4:15, and when she saw my back car window, mocking me, she laughed and bought me some replacement coffee. At around 5:45, Paige and I got dressed up and drove down to Barnes & Noble. Now, because I do so much writing, I can't read anymore. What I mean is, if I'm reading something that I personally have not written, I feel like I'm being lazy because I “should” be editing. When I was a kid, my neighbor Greg got me into Harry Potter, but Goblet of Fire was too long and a little too political for my third-grade self to wrap his head around. When Paige and I started dating and I told her I only got through year three (the third book), she convinced me to try again, and by October of ‘23, I had listened to all seven on Libby. Ever since then, I have listened to countless books in the car, on my way to and from work. Despite this, I do want to start getting books that I've read in physical copies to build a collection.

Paige ended up getting me two books that I've read before. All Good People Here, By Ashley Flowers, and Dracula. What's really cool about my Dracula book is, Barnes & Noble has a line of specialty prints of books called Barnes & Noble exclusives, and they can only be described as bible style bindings. They're huge books and they're very ornate. Barnes & Noble’s Dracula is a bright red, and the edge of the pages are lined with black.

Another bible-style binding that they have, though it's not necessarily a Barnes and Noble exclusive, is Les Mis. Everyone who was cast in the 2012 adaptation (Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, etc.) has a theater background, except for Russell Crowe. So while his singing in the movie isn't terrible, in comparison to everyone else, it's not great. While I was trying to decide what bible-style book I was going to get, a couple of guys walked in and made comments about how cool these books looked, and I laughed at a couple of their jokes. They saw Les Mis, and one guy said to the other, “Does this sing if you open it?”

Before I could stop myself, I said, “Yeah, but it's just Russell Crowe!” Instant best friends.

After we bought the books and a candle, we went to Bravo, which was in the same parking lot as the Barnes & Noble. Noah and the rest of my family were in attendance. After dinner, we went back to my parents’ house, and the boys went back to Ryan's apartment to get his new cat, Alfie. I opened presents, thanked everyone, had ice cream cake, tried to get our family cat Sammie used to Alfie, and just enjoyed everyone's company. 

Since Mitchmas (24), I have done multiple part stories about my birthday. Part 1 is almost always this exact installment. It's about my family going to dinner with Noah (and in later years, Paige), and going to my parents’ house afterwards. While this installment is in and of itself repetitive, over the years, the lesson has become more concentrated. Let me explain.

A few weeks before my family and Noah went to dinner in part one of Mitchmas (24), I broke up with my crazy ex-girlfriend, and during the dinner, I was in the middle of getting a restraining order. The entirety of Mitchmas (25) was built around a date that I had right before my birthday, that bled into the celebrations, and that led my ”sisters” to convince me to work on myself before I started dating again. Since both of those examples are about failed relationships, it is not lost on me that being in a stable relationship with Paige is the reason for the last three Mitchmaes being calm. But my point is, Mitchmas has become less connected to my overarching life story and more about celebrating with friends and family. And honestly, isn't that what it's all about?

To Be Continued…