Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 9: The Scroll Of Proposal

 The Scroll Of Proposal

As you may recall, I asked Paige to be my girlfriend after Kid helped me make a makeshift scroll that said, “Will you be my girlfriend?” on it. Then I took her out to a restaurant, and had our waiter hide it in her tiramisu (The Scroll). My first date with Paige was at a bar called Seesaw. Since then, it’s become a new bar called Good Night John Boy. John Boy is 70s-themed, while Seesaw was more modern.

At 5:20 p.m. on Friday, May 9th, 2025, Paige stepped out of Nicole‘s car and walked into John Boy. She had just gotten her nails painted blue, and she was wearing a blue, flowery dress. She knew that the proposal was coming soon, as we had bought the ring together. She pretty much figured out that it was happening that day when Nicole kidnapped her, and I was dodging her calls when I got off work early, but John Boy confirmed it.

A bartender named Andie took our drink orders, and once we got them, we sat awkwardly because we were dancing around the fact that she knew. Though I was OK with the fact that she did, because I knew she didn’t know everything that was about to happen. When we finished our drinks, I waved at Andie, and she dramatically nodded. “What was that?” Paige asked, a little nervously. I smiled and waited. She brought out the pad for me to cash out, and gave Paige a scroll. Paige looked at me, smiled, then unrolled the scroll. It read: Where Our Love Story Began. “Is this a scavenger hunt?” She asked.

“Maybe,” I replied.

Paige and I met because our brothers went to high school together. When Ryan, Will, and Mitch started Cousin Simple, Paige’s brother (who is also named Ryan), invited his whole family to a show. While I have known Paige for 8 years, we only started dating after reconnecting when Cousin Simple played The Newport (Columbus Against The World).

Noah had sent an email to The Newport to see if we could get inside for the next scroll in the scavenger hunt, but there was a concert that night, so the best we could do was meet Ryan outside. Because this happened to be the weakest part of my plan, I didn’t know exactly how it was going to work. Luckily, there was a parking spot right in front of where Ryan stood. Paige looked at me, then looked at Ryan, and she was obviously confused. In a moment of panic, I rolled Paige’s window down like we were at a drive-through, Ryan handed her a second scroll, and we drove off.

The second scroll read: Where Our Life Story Started, and Another Chapter Begins. When we pulled into our apartment complex, we were both giddy with laughter. We walked into our apartment, and the camera Luke got for Christmas was set to record, and music was playing from his Bluetooth speaker. There were tall black candles and small blue candles that my coworker, Elizabeth, let me borrow, placed around the ring and a huge scroll.

The Scroll said The Scroll Of Proposal on the top of it and had the date at the bottom, and my engagement speech made up the body. The first paragraph talked about how much I loved S.M. and that I thought I was going to marry her. The second paragraph was about Ryan catching up to me in grade level, and him starting Cousin Simple with Will and Mitch. Despite how much I loved the band, I felt very insecure about it; however, the insecurities were worth it since I met her through the band. The third paragraph was about how my cousin Ellie met her at Josh’s grad party (Graduation, Girlfriends, And A Pig Roast). She looked at us for all of 10 minutes and said, “When you’re with her, you have the same look on your face that you have when you talk about S.M.” The last paragraph talked about how much I love her, and how I am so excited for her to wear the ring, because every time I see it, I imagine growing old with her, and I can’t wait for that!

As I unrolled the scroll, Paige laughed and said, “It’s giving Hamilton.”

I couldn’t help but reply, “Hear ye, Hear ye!”

When I started talking about Cousin Simple, their slow song, Doorstep started playing. I had told Luke to hide in my room, with our cat, Charlie, until I started talking about Ellie. When I started talking about Ellie, out of the corner of our eyes, Paige and I saw Luke dash out of my room, into the hallway like a little goblin. Once I had finished my speech, I knelt down and grabbed the ring box on the table.

“Paige O’Brien,” I asked, “will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 8.5: The Asterisk

The Asterisk

I posted an installment on Sunday about Paige, Shane, and me going to the grand opening for the new Bitty & Beau’s coffee shop location in Columbus. In it, Paige left to go back to my car because we had been waiting in line for about an hour, and she was cold. I put an asterisk at the end of the sentence describing her leaving. The reason? I took out a scene because it wasn’t majorly important to that installment; however, it is pretty important to the rest of my life. This is that scene:

At about 10:45, Paige asked, “Can I have your keys?” When I asked her why, she told me, “I’m going to sit in your car for a bit. I’m freezing!” I gave her my keys and watched her walk off. 

“Okay,” I said to Shane excitedly as soon as she was out of earshot, “it’s happening next Friday!”

“What’s happening?” Shane asked.

At this point, Jessica, Shane‘s fiancé, who works at Bitty & Beau’s, ran through the line, and she gave Shane a big hug. After they let go, Jessica greeted me. I said hi and hugged her. Then I made eye contact with Shane, looked down at Jessica’s engagement ring, looked back at Shane, and raised my eyebrow. Shane’s eyes went wide, and he said, “Oh my gosh! Congratulations!”

On Friday, May 9th, 2025, I pulled into a parking Garage at 5:00 p.m. After I parked, I pulled out my phone and checked Paige’s location: 17 minutes away. I took an excited breath, exited my car, locked the door, ran out of the garage, and looked across the street at the bar: Good Night John Boy.

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 8: Bitty & Beau's

 Bitty & Beau's

In the year or so since Paige and I moved in together, I haven’t really mentioned my former roommate Shane. Despite our intense fights during the two years we “lived” together, my intention was to keep our friendship alive after I moved out. The reason I haven’t mentioned him in the last year is because while I have seen him a handful of times, we haven’t hung out in the way that either of us wanted to.

There was a girl in the grade below me at OLP; let’s call her Laura. Laura‘s little brother, let’s call him Andrew, ended up going to New Story during my last two years as a student there. At the beginning of January, Laura and Andrew‘s mom shared a video from a coffee shop called Bitty & Beau’s. Bitty & Beau’s was started in 2016 by a couple with two children named Bitty and Beau, who both have Down syndrome. They almost exclusively employ people with developmental disabilities. The video that Laura’s mom had posted was introducing the employees for the new Columbus location. Andrew and Shane’s fiancé, Jessica, were both introduced. 

After Mom told me about it, I looked into it and found out that the Bitty & Beau’s Columbus grand opening was on Saturday, May 3, 2025. I immediately called Shane, and we decided to go. At 9:30 that morning, Paige and I drove up to the Gleason Road apartment. Shane was already outside, and we got to Bitty & Beau’s by 9:45. It was very rainy that day, but luckily, there was an awning, so we had cover.

A handful of things happened while we waited in line for 2 hours. 1. I saw three of my New Story coworkers ahead of us in line and said hi to them. 2. Laura and her friend from OLP, Sylvia, saw me and we talked briefly. 3. Unfortunately, we were too far back in line to see the ribbon-cutting, but we could hear it. 4. At about 10:45, Paige went back to my car because she was cold.* 5. Shane had texted Jessica’s mom and told her that we were there. When she found out, Jessica came through the line and gave Shane a big hug. 6. After Jessica left, a woman named Maddie and her husband started talking to us. They were very friendly, and they brought my books!

Eventually, Paige returned, and within another 30 minutes, we finally got into the shop. Jessica rang up our coffees. She gave me a 7 of hearts playing card, and the person who made our order had to match ours with the 7 of hearts they had to make sure they got the correct order, which was really cool.

I wrote each War Of The Roommates installment (War Of The Roommates, Dancing With Our Stars, and The Truth About War Of The Roommates trilogy) the same way. I reveal that despite what I’ve depicted before, Shane and I are having problems for one reason or another. I then reveal that I’m trying to use this series to make myself feel better about my complicated living situation. Finally, I resolved them with, “he and I fixed it because x, and now it’s all gonna be perfect from here on in!” While the point of The Truth About War Of The Roommates trilogy was Paige and I moving in together, even though I still wanted Shane in my life, the way I wrote it and his lack of appearance after it made it seem like I was running away from Shane. But as we sat and drank our coffee, I looked over at Shane with pride that he and I had finally grown past the War Of The Roommates.

Have a Greattastic Day and Be Safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 7: Sam’s Fans 10

 Sam’s Fans 10

When S.M. died, back in 2009, I felt more lost than I ever had before. As I depicted in my second book, Sam’s Fans was the first thing that really helped me cope with all the death I had experienced. In the two years since I published Once in a Lifetime, I haven’t written about Sam’s Fans as much. I think in some ways, writing and more specifically editing that book, helped me to process my feelings and move forward in my life. This doesn’t mean that I’m not still going to events.

As of this installment, Sam's Fans is 10 years old! S.M.’s favorite dessert was ice cream. Every year on her birthday (March 15th), Sam's Fans hosts a social media campaign, in which everyone posts pictures of themselves getting ice cream with the hashtag #icecreamwithsam. In April every year Sam's Fans has an ice cream party to celebrate S.M’s and it’s “birthday.”

Last Thursday, April 10th, 2025, I left work at 3:45, drove to pick Paige up, and drove down to Kobolt to finish working on Greattastic Adventures 2. Once I had finished, we drove to Meadow Park Drive. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream is a shop that started locally, but it’s now in multiple states. Paige and I parked right outside of my parents’ house, and walked up to the Jeni’s at the top of the street.

When we were about to walk in, we ran into Finn and Jack, two of S.M.’s brothers. After we greeted them, we entered and said hi to S.M. ’s mom, Nikki, her mom, Patti, and her best friend, Mandy. Then we ordered our ice cream and sat down with them.

As we caught up, with everyone I looked down at the table and there was a sticker. The sticker had expanded the cellular Sam's Fans logo, put a ladybug in the 0 of the number 10 (a ladybug is a symbol of S.M.), and had the words, “celebrating a decade of healing” on it. I couldn’t help but smile.

S.M. has been gone for nearly 16 years now. And yet, when I tell people about her without fail they always say, “I’m so sorry.” This is always a bit weird for me because I never really know how to respond. S.M.’s death started one of the darkest periods in my life and I miss her every single day. But, in the last 10 years S.M. though her mother and Sam's Fans, has touched the lives of thousands of kids just like her! It will never be “okay,” that’s not how grief works. But I’ll tell you, she would be so happy with what Nikki has done in her name over the last 10 years, and that makes it a bit easier to live with.

Have A Greattastic Day and Be Safe 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 6: The Things That Stay The Same

 The Things That Stay The Same

On Thursday, March 27th, 2025, at around 7:00 p.m., my uncle Bob was walking back to his car after meeting with a former coworker. As he was about to turn the corner, he heard someone running towards him from behind. He turned around, didn’t recognize the stranger, and turned the corner in a panic. “Hi, uncle Bob,” I said.

“Oh, hi Mitchell,” he said, “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you. What are you doing down here?” 

“There’s a Cousin Simple show at A&R,” I replied.

It’s not surprising that Uncle Bob didn’t recognize me. Since last summer, I've been wearing my hair up in a ponytail, and I haven’t shaved my face since the day after Christmas.

After Bob and I talked for about a minute, I returned to the restaurant where Mom, Dad, Josh, Paige, and the parents of the lead singer, Will, David, and Tracy, were eating. Now, Cousin Simple has played A&R before, but they haven’t played there since they released the music video for their song Candlelight a few years ago. 

When we got to A&R, we met up with Nimba, Aunt Cyndi, Will’s sister, Helen, Mrs. Hartman and a few other regulars. While I have not mentioned Mrs. Hartman in any of my writings, her son, Pete, appeared in my second book, as he was a really good friend of mine in grade school. After we said hi to each other, Mrs. Hartman said, “Pete got married last year and they are expecting their first baby in June!”

 Now, before Paige and I started dating, at every single Cousin Simple show, I would be practically at the front of the crowd. This changed when we started dating. Before we dated and she came to shows, I thought of her as just a fan of the band, but when she came as my guest, I felt a little more obligated to be with her, even though she did not agree with that obligation. After the rest of my family said hi to Mrs. Hartman, and congratulated her on the baby, Nimba, and Cyndi, expressed that they wanted to go to the front, and that encouraged Mom, me, and Paige to go too.

As Cousin Simple started playing, we were still a little further back than I would have liked to be. However, I noticed Josh, as close to the front as possible, and I used him as a landmark. I'm a very tall person, so it took me about half a set to get to Josh. When I did, I felt someone continually tap me on the shoulder. I was ignoring her, since I assumed she was just a disgruntled fan, until I realized it was just a little too deliberate, and I turned around and it was Paige. After a few minutes of dancing around, Paige asked me, “Can you throw my drink  away?” I grumbled a little bit, but as I grabbed her cup from her, I knew I could get back to where I was if I was a little more aggressive, fighting through the crowd. You will not believe the number of enemies I made that night!

This series has always had a weird relationship with the theme of change, mostly because I, as an autistic person, have a problem with change, and I want to move away from that theme, even though things change in life, and so I inevitably have to go back to it. Pete's eminent fatherhood is a weird change for me. Obviously, Pete is not my first friend to have a baby, and I haven't seen him consistently in nearly 15 years. The difference between him and, for example, August is, I watched August grow into an adult and literally grow, when she was pregnant. In contrast, the most recent version of Pete that I remember is a 6th grader; someone who should not have a baby.

Yes, Pete's wife's pregnancy has absolutely no bearing on my life (other than me obviously being happy for them), but it brings up a subset of insecurity about change that I haven't experienced before. It's not the, “Oh my gosh everything's changing in my life and it's never going to be okay,” kind of thing that I felt before, it's more subtle. Remember when you were little, and like your great aunt, or distant cousin or whoever, would say, “I remember when you were this small.” I feel like I’m doing the emotional equivalent of that in my head to Pete now that he's going to be a dad, and it's just a weird feeling and I don't know how to handle it. 

While there's probably a lot more packed into that little paragraph, that I should unpack with my therapist, as I was kind of overthinking about change the day after the show, I started thinking about how even though the feelings are a little weird, and maybe even a little incomplete, I had the makings for a good installment. Because whether the changes are small, like facial hair, an old friend's parenthood, or if they're bigger, like a friend moving away there are always the things that stay the same: like me being at the front of the crowd at a Cousin Simple show!

Have a Greattastic Day and be Safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 5: The Fractured Book Cover

 The Fractured Book Cover

As I said in my installment, A Writer’s Place, I finished writing my third and fourth books, which are direct sequels to my first book, back in 2023. By the end of Greattastic Adventures 3, my “sister,” Arlo (Kid) Anderson is only 14. As a result of her and my age gap, young Arlo is the least used character in the books despite my best efforts. This became abundantly clear as soon as I started writing the master outline for the series. But because I love the relationship we have always had, I wanted to include her in some way.

When I was about to publish my first book, The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child, I asked Kid if she would like to do the cover, and she said yes. For Miracle Child, Kid illustrated a picture of both my parents and her parents' houses. My dad’s employee at Kobolt, Owen, then took those illustrations and created a cover using them. Kid thought Owen would touch up the houses, but he didn’t because I thought they were good! Because of that miscommunication, Kid asked for a little more creative control with the sequels.

Miracle Child was a movie that the Anderson women and I made when we were little. That movie is what started the current iteration of our friendship. This next book is called The Greattastic Adventures 2: Fractured. Kid's illustration was of the Miracle Child CD, in its case, fractured into 6 pieces, with the 6th piece appearing on the back cover. The Subtitle: Fractured was initially written in the space where the 6th piece was missing from.

On Monday, February 24th, I drove to Kobolt after work. I parked around back, said hi to my parents and Kate, Owen’s replacement, and then called Kid to see where she was. There is some construction right outside of Kobolt and a ton of one-ways in that area. So she had gotten lost. After a manic 10 minutes of me running around, I found her and directed her to the studio. After I introduced the Kid and Kate, we got to work.

We used the Miracle Child cover as a template, which made it easy. Kid and Kate discussed how it should look, and I signed off on pretty much everything they said. The most significant change to the cover was Kate suggesting that we move Fractured to the spine of the CD case and put Miracle Child where the missing piece in the disc was. By the time it was time for Kate to get off work, we had figured out everything except for the book's color (Kate and I would choose teal on our own, however).

This season is called Goals and Dreams, as I am trying out a new system to organize my goals. One of the biggest goals that I have for this year is to publish Greattastic Adventures 2 and 3, something that, quite honestly, for a while, I didn't think was going to happen. I am very excited that this is starting to come together.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Before I end this installment, I want to congratulate my COUSIN Paige and her husband Austin on the birth of their second child! I can't wait to meet her!!!!

Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 4: Box Seats + Nimba

 Box Seats + Nimba

In the first blog I ever wrote, I said, “I tell my grandma everything.” I never really had a chance to expand upon that thought, as the first blog was designed to give you an overview of who I am. I told my grandma (Nimba) everything because she has worked as an assistant for Dad’s company, Kobolt, for as long as I can remember. When my brothers and I were in grade school, Nimba would work at my parents' house to help Mom when we got home. And even when we were all old enough to take care of ourselves, Nimba would still come over. I will admit I probably limited her progress on things she needed to get done when I would come home from high school or college every day. Unfortunately, when Covid hit, Nimba started working from home, and eventually, I would only see her at family gatherings.

My family has seen Nimba a little bit more frequently since Papa passed away in late January. The Little Grand is an indoor food market that Dad did some work in. On Saturday, February 15th, 2025, Luke and Josh’s band, Box Seats, had a show. Paige and I left our apartment at about 6:00 pm to head to The Little Grand to meet Mom, Dad, Ryan, and Nimba. We arrived at 6:30, and once we got inside, we found everyone at the table and caught up with them.

Now Ryan, lived in Chicago From the summer of 2022-the summer of 2023. When Ryan moved back to Columbus, he moved in with my parents. In November of 2024, he found an apartment of his own. Nimba, Paige, and I had not been to his new apartment yet, so after dinner, we went to his place.

Box Seats played at Summit Music Hall, a bar/music venue off OSU’s campus. They played with two other bands, one of which had just released a new song. Doors opened at 8:00, and Box Seats was the second set. I had a few favorite parts of the show.

Firstly, I had to go to the bathroom. The way the venue is set up is the stairs to the bathroom are right next to the stage. Box Seats started playing right when I returned from the restroom, and I got some of the closest pictures I’ve ever gotten. Secondly, during one of their songs, the three guitarists aimed their guitars at the crowd and moved them from left to right across the crowd during the bridge. This was cool because it’s an homage to Cousin Simple. After all, they do a very similar thing during Song To Emma. Ryan smiled when Luke called him out.

But the best part had to be my conversation with Nimba at the end of the night. After Box Seats finished playing, I walked up to Nimba, who had found a seat at the bar. “Did you have fun?” She asked.

“Yeah!” I replied. “When was the last time you came to a show?”

Nimba thought about it and then replied, “when Cousin Simple and Box Seats played together!” 

I was a bit surprised because that even (Runs In The Family) happened two years ago this coming fall. Like I said, I have only seen Nimba at family events for a while, but actually looking at the timeline was shocking. As I stood there stunned, I thought back to that first blog I wrote- I tell my grandma everything. “I miss talking to you every day,” I said.

“Aww, honey, I miss talking to you too!” She replied.

"I would love to have lunch with you soon to catch up,” I suggested.

“I would love that,” she said. While the circumstances of Nimba being more available are tragic, I have enjoyed seeing her more in the month or so since Papa died. In my experience, even when something terrible happens, you can still find some good in it.

Have a Greattastic Day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri