Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 6: Michelle

 Michelle

Nicole is Paige’s best friend; in fact, she is Paige’s “sister” in the same way the Andersons are mine, and she is her maid of honor. She has been a major part of Paige and my love story. First and foremost, she helped me ask Paige to be my girlfriend (The Scroll). While I mentioned her twice last season, her last full appearance was in the first part of the Season 7 finale, October-December. I wanted to take this installment to catch up with Nicole and show how she has been helping us in our engagement.

On Sunday, January 26, 2025, Paige and I took my cousins, Lexi and Caitlynn, to the mall to help Caitlynn get something for my grandpa‘s funeral the next day. Toward the end of our trip, we wanted Starbucks, and when my order came up, the barista called me “Michelle.” Then on that Friday, January 31, Paige and I went out to Pins to celebrate Clo’s birthday (They Grow Up So Fast). When we left Pins, Clo wanted Cane‘s, so we went there. I ordered, and as Paige and I were telling Clo the Starbucks story, wouldn’t you know it, one of the Cane’s employees yelled, “Order for Michelle.”

Now, earlier that month, Nicole had started dating a guy, who we’ll call Carson. The day after we hung out with Clo, Paige, and I went out to dinner with Nicole, Carson, and one of Nicole's friends at a restaurant that, ironically, was in the same mall we had been to on Sunday.

I was out here making a great first impression. The whole table was laughing, and they were all loving me, and it was awesome. Having known Carson now for over a year, I've come to the conclusion that he is a very funny person, but I don’t think he was ready for me to be as funny as I was that night. At some point, Paige told the whole Michelle story.

Now I wish I could remember the setup for this. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but after Paige told that story, Carson kept calling me “Michelle.” At some point, I said something, and Carson jokingly asked, “Michelle, are you pregnant?”

What I said next came out of my mouth before my brain had processed what I was thinking. “Yes,” I replied, “and Nicole’s the father!”

That comment solidified Carson and my friendship. And I would like to add this little bit has not stopped. Every couple of months, some random person in the food service industry, not to mention Carson, calls me Michelle, and it’s hilarious.

Nicole continues to be a major part of our story. On May 9th, 2025, Nicole kidnapped Paige, got her into the dress that she wanted to be in, got her nails painted, and drove Paige to Good Night John Boy, the bar that Paige and I had a first date at. Once Paige walked in, she and I started a scavenger hunt that ended with me proposing to her (The Scroll Of Proposal). About a month after Paige and I got engaged, Carson proposed to Nicole. Over last summer, Nicole figured out most of her and Carson’s wedding stuff, while Paige and I were getting very overwhelmed. While Paige and I were on my family vacation in July, I talked on the phone with Nicole for like an hour, and she helped me with some of the anxieties. And that is on top of the usual maid-of-honor duties. I know they already went wedding dress shopping; she has been there for some meetings we had with our parents, and she has continued to give us advice on managing wedding-planning anxiety.

There are a lot of people who are supporting Paige and I, and we appreciate all of them. Over the last few months, I’ve learned that having another 2026 bride on the team has been a huge asset for us!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

 

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 5: Snowmageddon

 Snowmageddon

This was not supposed to be the fifth installment for this season. I, in fact, have already written the installment that is now the sixth and already told the subject of that installment that it is the fifth (sorry, Nicole), but last week was too weird not to write about! On Saturday, January 24th, 2026, I picked up Noah at his apartment, and we went to a nearby Starbucks. We had been trying to hang out since Christmas, and with the blizzard expected to hit that night, we weren't sure when we'd see each other next.

“So do you think you're going to work Monday?” Noah asked.

“I think we'll get Monday off,” I said, “but I think anything else might be a bit of a stretch.”

At 4:00, I went with Paige, and my parents went to Mass at OLP. There were two reasons for this. 1. Obviously, because of the snowstorm, Paige and I were a little worried that we were not going to be able to get to our church the next day. 2. That weekend, Our Lady of Peace celebrated their 80th anniversary, and so the Bishop was the celebrant for the Mass. It was kind of weird for me because I was struggling to wrap my head around the fact that my entire time as a student and an educator there happened so early in the parish's history. Like, there's an argument to be made that in 200 years, my time at OLP could be considered part of “the early years.”

When Mass ended, Paige and I drove back to our apartment, and I put my windshield wipers up. We spent the night watching TV and keeping watch out the window, waiting for the first snowflakes to fall. Now Paige and my apartment complex, Summit Crest Apartments, is huge, but it's kind of tucked away. I've driven/ridden my bike past it since I was a teenager (though probably before that), but I didn’t know it was there until Paige and I signed our first lease. Honestly, I wouldn't even call it Columbus, it's kind of like its own little pocket Universe.

Anywho, because it's so blocked off, we have a private snowplow operator. On Monday, the 26th, not sure if I had to go to work the next day, I went out to see if my car could actually get out, and it had been completely boxed in by the snowplow. Mom and Dad came to help me out just in case, and I was really thankful for that. I did not have to go to school the next day. In fact, I did not have to go to school until February 2. Because of this, while I know other things that happened during this week, I have no sense of when they happened. 

One day, Paige wasn't feeling too good, so I had to trudge through this shin-deep snow to get her some Pedialyte from a nearby store. On another day, we met up with Nicole at Roosters to talk about wedding stuff (which, honestly, is a good lead-in to next week's installment; I'm kind of glad it happened this way now that I think about it). Paige and I also figured out how many invitations we need to send out for the wedding, and I did a ton of writing. I worked on upcoming projects, talked to Kid about the cover for Greattastic Adventures 3, wrote the first six installments for this season, and recorded the first three.  Also, this isn't important at all, but I kind of want to vent. I had no idea that you could schedule podcast posts until I released For Papa. Like, oh my gosh, that's going to make posting days so much easier now, cuz I can just upload the podcast beforehand, but I'm just really upset that I'm figuring this out 9 seasons in!

When I was a kid, after a shower I would turn the water off, grab a towel, cover myself in it like a blanket, lay on floor and take like a 10 minute power nap, much to the dismay of my father (I don't think he knew what I was doing), and then I would continue with my day as if nothing happened. A few months ago, Paige asked me, “Why do you always take so long in the car?” What I'll do is park, and she will get out of the car, and I will scroll on social media for anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes before she calls me and asks what's going on. The answer to both of these situations is that transitioning is hard for autistic people. The transition from warm (the shower) to being naked and cold is… I don't know… scary feels like a dramatic word, but I can't think of another one right now. And when I sit in the car, it's not that I don't want to get out; it just takes me a bit to actually do it. While transitions are a pretty big problem, I think there's another issue, too.

Time is a social construct. Yes, for astrological purposes, there are mornings, noons, and nights; throughout the year, the seasons change, and cause and effect are real things, but the fact that I am writing this sentence at 11:37 on a Thursday in January of 2026 is genuinely nonsense. It doesn't mean anything. Time exists to keep society moving, and while that is necessary, it is not something that autistic people innately understand. We feel like we get it when our schedules are running normally, but as soon as snowmageddon hits, we lose all sense of time. Or at the very least, I did.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 9 The Age Of Weddings Blog 4: Swimmer’s Ear Update 2

 Swimmer’s Ear Update 2

Growing up, I was notorious for getting ear infections. I probably had one every couple of months, and it got so bad that I needed to get tubes put in 3 times. In 2019, my immediate family and my cousin’s family, the Mitreys, went on a vacation to Hatteras, North Carolina. At one point, Ryan, Nicholas, Josh, and I had a chicken fight. Nicholas and I were the tops, and as we were roughhousing, Nicholas grabbed my head and slammed it into the water, right ear first. After that, I had complications with my right ear whenever I went into the water.

In the summer of 2022, my family went on a trip to the Mitrey's Lake House in Norris Lake, Tennessee. On the first day, I went tubing and fell off the tube. A wave crashed on the right side of my head, and you guessed it, my ear filled up with water. I ended up getting an ear infection, and I was miserable the entire week. Everything I have just explained was in the original Swimmer's Ear installment.

In November 2023, I had surgery with the doctor who had given me tubes when I was a kid because it turned out the tubes were the reason my eardrum was weak enough to explode in the first place. For all of 2024, in the first half of 2025, my check-ups were normal.

Around the time Paige and I got engaged, my ear felt very clogged up. My sister-in-law (is she my sister-in-law?… she’s my brother-in-law’s long-term girlfriend… not the point… anyways…), my sister-in-law, Yvanna, who is in PA school, checked my ear out, and there was an unnatural amount of earwax and fluid in there. I set up an appointment with Dr. Blaze, and he cleared my ear and scheduled another check-up. 

On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, I walked into Dr. Blaze‘s office at 7:30 am for my 7:45 appointment. I got checked in, Dr. Blaze checked me out, I opted for a hearing test (just to be safe), and then Dr. Blaze told me, “Well, everything‘s looking good. I don’t think you’ll need to see me anymore!” 

As I turned on my car and pulled out of the parking lot on my way to work, I looked at his office in my rearview mirror. I knew eventually my ear would be fine enough that I wouldn’t have to see Dr. Blaze again, but I genuinely didn't think I would do a second Swimmer Ear Update. Swimmers Ear Update 1 was necessary because the story that I followed from the original Swimmers Ear was my breakup with Gabby, so I had to go back and explain, “hey, my ear is still messed up,” before I wrote the installment about the surgery (Out Of My Mind). This epilogue, from a narrative perspective, isn’t necessary; it is implied by Out Of My Mind.

I still wrote this installment because I feel like it fits the theme of this season very well. 2019, the same year that my ear busted the first time, was when I started Rules for a Greattastic Life. In other words, even though I didn’t mention it until season 5, it has been something that I’ve been dealing with my entire young adult life, and I think that it’s fitting that this all wrapped up right before I transition into married life. 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe.

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT