Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 8.5: Coworkers At Red White & Boom

 Coworkers At Red White & Boom

On Friday July 3, 2026, Mom, Dad, Ryan Luke, Josh,  Nimba, Lexi, Paige and I woke up at 6:00 a.m., at the lake house, and by 7:00 we were on the road. We got gas at 7:15, I fell asleep at the gas station, and when I woke, it was noon, and we were back in Columbus. 

At 5:50, Paige and I arrived at Kobolt, for the annual Red White & Boom party. My coworker, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Joel, who I also work with, had already arrived. I have mentioned Elizabeth before, but because most of our interactions are at work, I haven’t written about our friendship so that I don’t violate FERPA. “But Mitchell,” I can hear you saying, “you’ve totally mentioned other coworkers without mentioning students! What’s going on?” And yes, I have. We’ll get back to that. For now just know that Elizabeth is basically the workplace equivalent of Noah (in terms of how close we are). Also up until this event Elizabeth and Joel kept their relationship secret from our coworkers other than myself and some close friends. And I’m very proud of myself for having kept it since last November! 

Anyways, about 30 minutes later, our other coworkers, Kaylee, Kira, and Emily and 2 of her kids arrived. After that, Miranda, a couple of Ryan’s friends, and a ton of family friends (including Shaun Loftmen who Paige and I would go to lunch with the next day), got to the studio. We spent the next couple hours watching the World Cup, and then around 9:30 we went up to the roof. 

As the fireworks started at 10:00, I looked at my friends and smiled. When I started working at the school, I met Clo and her now ex girlfriend Lucy and we built a friend group together. Lucy and I had a falling out and while I am friends with everyone in the group individually now, at the time that fallout really affected my relationship with the group at work. While I’ve still had friends at work, there is something to be said about having a group. 

Elizabeth and I have been friends since late 2024, but everyone else started getting close with us last year, shortly before I got my SBT.  With this group finally solidifying, I am feeling more confident in my workplace friendships, outside of the building! 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 8: Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 1: Another Norris Trip

 Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 1: Another Norris Trip

The last day  of summer school was Friday June 26th, And I had to be back at school for the 2026-27 school year in early August. My cousins family, the Mitreys (Aunt Melissa, Uncle Andy, Alex and his girlfriend Sophie, Maci, Nicholas and Ellie), have owned a house on Norris Lake for the last few years, which they sold two years ago, so they could build a new one. The trip was scheduled for Saturday, June 27th, and Dad wanted to still have his annual Red White & Boom Party at the studio. Paige and my honeymoon was scheduled for July 8th to the 15th and Nicole’s wedding was on the 19th. All of this to say, summer break 2026 was a lot more packed then my summer breaks usually are. To cope with this Paige and I decided to treat my entire break as a summer long honeymoon. 

At 3:00 p.m. on the 27th, Mom, Dad, my cousin Lexi, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Paige and I arrived at the second Mitrey Lake house. Melissa, Andy, Nimba, Nicholas, and Ellie, were already there, and that was cool because Nicholas had been out of the country since about a week before the wedding and so it was really cool to have some one-on-one time with him. On top of that Ellie, Lexi, and Paige, spent the evening on the lake for a girl’s night. The next day, Alex, Sophie, and Maci arrived and we all spent some time at the lake. 

The other days were mostly just spent drinking at the lake, but there were a few highlights. 1. My Uncle Bob and Aunt Erin came for two days, Monday (the 29th) and Tuesday (the 30th). 2. On July 1st, which was supposed to be our last day, Alex, Sophie, Nicholas, Ellie, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Paige and I went on a 2 hour hike, and because we saw and touched so much poison ivy, we jumped in the lake, fully clothed covered in Dawn dish soap (which surprisingly worked)! 

3. This new lake house has a jumping platform on the roof of the dock. I cannot use it because of my ear surgery. Paige asked Luke to jump with her and he faked her out at the last second so she jumped on her own. A little bit angry on her next attempt, she interlaced her fingers with Luke’s so he would have to jump with her, but he still faked her out, and her grip was too tight on his hand, so she jerked back, slipped, and hit the water hard. She was okay, but was left with a nasty bruise on her leg, which seems to happen to her a lot at Norris. 

4. We decided to stay an extra day, through July 2. While the day was mostly uneventful, we decided to wait up late to meet Maci‘s new boyfriend, who we will call… Jason. As we waited up, a tree fell on a transformer and we lost power to the lake house. It was really cool because it ended off giving off a  camp fire vibe. 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 7.5: Good Luck Noah

 Good Luck Noah

On the last day of Summer School, I got off at 3:00, said goodbye to some friends, and drove off to start my summer long honeymoon. Paige had some things to do before our trip the next day so I dropped her off at her parents house and drove to hang out with Noah at Roger. At about 7:00 pm, I picked Noah up and we drove to Kroger. 

You see, even though I was officially off for summer this was the only time we would be in town at the same time before the end of July. The next day I was going on a family trip, in the middle of that trip, Noah had to go out of town for work, then he would come home for one night, fly out for another job next day, and then on the day we were to fly back from our honeymoon Noah would be heading to England for a blind soccer tournament. 

We arrived at Kroger, and we got a few things that he needed as well as makings for some alcoholic milkshakes. When we returned to Roger, we began to make the drink. After we were finished, we sat out on the porch and drank and talked. 

This mini installment is way more of an extension of Breaking In Roger than its own thing which is not something I like to do but I still thought this was an important moment. As we sat on his front porch wishing each other good luck on our upcoming summer adventures, I told him, “Man, it's so cool that we can just sit out on the front porch of your house and just vibe!” 

“It is very adult,” Noah said matter of factly, with a smile. 

To be continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 7: The Kid Khronicles #4- Failures In Van Life

 The Kid Khronicles #4- Failures In Van Life

As I said inthe installment, The After Party, Arden was doing a rotation in Columbus for three months starting at the beginning of June. Between Family Days and Breaking In Roger, Arden and I had a phone call and she told me that it had been pushed back to the 15th. On Saturday June 13th 2026, Paige and I were at two of her high school friend's (Sophia and Cara’s) joint college graduation party. While there Arden called me. I ignored it because I figured it was about making plans to hang out the following week so I would just call her when I got home. It wasn’t until Kid called me about 12 minutes later that I became a little more intrigued. I texted them both and told them I would call soon.

2 hours later on the phone Arden confirmed that she would be in town the next day. Kid was also coming, but she was only staying the night and she asked if she could stay with us. It turned out that Kid had upgraded her car so that she could do van life for a while. This is something that she had been talking about for at least a year, but it wasn’t something that anyone, including Kid, thought was actually going to happen. She had apparently told me at the wedding, but I really don’t remember that. 

Paige had a meeting at Panera on Sunday the 14th at 8:00, and the last time that happened they provided food. I dropped Paige off early so she could talk about becoming a manager before the meeting started, and then I drove to meet Arden and Kid at a local pizza shop called Pizza Primo. I said hi, Kid showed me her set up, we ate, then Kid left because she wanted to watch the sunset at her favorite “thinking spot.”

 Arden and I talked for about another 15 minutes before Paige called me to pick her up. After I got off the phone I asked Arden if she wanted to still hang out, and she said that she would like to go on a walk while the sun was still out and so she decided to follow me to Panera. Because I was not at the apartment, or another familiar spot Paige asked me to send my ETA when we left. When I looked at the ETA (9:02), I asked Siri what time the sun set. Siri responded: Sunset will be at 9:02 pm today. I called Arden and she decided that after she saw Paige she would just go to her Airbnb.  

Paige and I got home and we waited… and waited and then I checked the time. 10:02. The sun had been set for an hour; something was wrong. I texted Kid and she responded, “ummm, my car is not turning on and my phone is at 2%.” Paige immediately checked her location from when they were roommates, and we ran to the car. She was at a Metro park in Grove City. By the time we got there at 10:20, the park was closed to the public, but a park ranger had left a gate open for us. When we pulled up to the car, Kid was zipping around trying to figure out what she was going to do while the park ranger watched her in awe and confusion. 

As Kid signed the papers to keep her car there overnight, she explained that she thought her car was out of gas. We called Luke and he told us that he and Josh had some gas at their place, the 245. We arrived there 15 minutes later, and Josh brought up a gas can. Since the adrenaline was going to keep Kid, Paige and I up, and the boys stay up late anyway we decided to stay over there for a while. “How did I end up here?” Kid said after about 10 minutes, in the middle of a half joking half legitimate, panic attack. 

“Hey,” I said, “you're fine, this is a great opportunity! You're going to have so much fun on this road trip! I know you can do it!” 

The next day was Paige and my one month wedding anniversary. At about 6:30 Paige and I returned to our apartment after a vet appointment for Charlie, and Arden and Kid were  waiting in the parking lot for us. Once we packed up Kid’s stuff we said our goodbyes and got back into our cars. As Paige and I pulled out of our apartment to go to a restaurant, with Kid and Arden in Kid’s car behind us, I felt immense pride. Most of the time I struggle to not see Kid as the 7 year old that she was when I became friends with the Andersons at the end of Miracle Child. But sometimes, when she is doing something new or something doesn’t go to plan I see how much she has actually grown up and I am so proud of who she has become!

To be continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 6.9: Artistic Representation

 Artistic Representation

I love writing. I really do. But… It can be really annoying. The Andersons are not real. My immediate and extended families, my coworkers, Elana, Noah, Paige, everyone I write about, they are not real. They are just artistic representations of real people. That’s just the nature of the beast. The problem is there are some real people who I care about, that don’t usually fit into the art. When I was probably around 2 years old, my parents made friends with a family at church. We’ll call them the Loftmens. Mr. And Mrs. Loftmen had 2 sons, Gavin and Shaun. Mom and Dad met them at OLP as they were also parishioners. Mrs. Loftmen ended up on the Koblot softball team (which was a thing that they had like the first few years of the company's existence). This is all to say that the Loftmens and my family were really close until they moved out of state. 

We stayed at the Loftmen’s Beach House twice growing up (once was in the summer of 2009. I remember because Michael Jackson died on that trip), and I have seen Shaun a couple of times over the course of Rules for a Greattastic Life. 

Shaun got married to his wife, Sabrina, last fall and my parents went to the wedding. When they were there they found out that Shaun had been doing some contract work in Columbus. The day after Mom‘s birthday Mr. and Mrs. Loftmen and Shaun were in town, and we all had a big dinner. During this dinner, we found out that Sabrina was pregnant, and Paige Shaun and I bonded over our newly married lives. 

This is a weird mini installment. Realistically I will write another installment in the near future that effectively renders this one irrelevant. It will go into more detail about my family‘s relationship with the Loftmens. I’m writing this for one reason. I have stated that if I write about you (as more than an ”extra”) I love you and you’re seared onto my heart. I have always loved the Loftmens, but I have not had the ability to include them in my writings. Since this dinner, Paige and I have become very close with Shaun and Sabrina and I wanted to finally include them in the story! 

To be continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 6.5: Catching Up With Shane (& Jessica)

 Catching Up With Shane (& Jessica)

Shortly after Paige and my wedding, my former roommate Shane, moved out of the Gleason Road apartment, and moved into his fiancée, Jessica’s apartment. On Friday, June 12th 2026, Paige got off work at 4:00. I was off at 3:00 so I went from work to the Barnes & Noble by Paige’s Panara to wait for her to call me. 

I arrived at 3:30, and I walked around for about 10 minutes before my phone started to buzz. It was a FaceTime call from Shane. I was glad to hear from him. During the snowstorm back in February, Shane had asked me to be in his wedding, but I hadn’t really heard anything about it since. 

I answered the call and greeted Shane and Jessica. They asked me how the wedding was and I filled them in then I asked how they were feeling about their upcoming wedding. They were obviously both excited and Jessica told me all about the table arrangements and the wedding colors. 

This wedding is the second wedding party that I’m in. If I was excited for Greg’s wedding then I’m ecstatic for Shane’s. For one thing, while I’ve known Greg my whole life and I love Temi, I was never really involved in their love story until the wedding. I was the event coordinator, in all but name, for Shane and Jessica’s engagement; I feel like I have more of a stake in their relationship if that makes sense. Not to mention I was (more or less) single when Greg got married and of course now I’m not. Can’t wait till October guys!!!!

To be continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 6.3: Cover Band

 Cover Band

Thursday June 11, 2026 was Mom’s birthday. The day before, I was at Luke and Josh‘s and I asked them if there were any plans. They didn’t know of any so after I got off work and I picked Paige up we called my brothers and found out that Mom‘s college friend Anita and a few others were going out to a bar to see an R.E.M. cover band (R.E.M. is one of Mom’s favorite bands).

We got to the bar at 6:30 (the show was scheduled to start at 7:00). We got into the venue and around 7:15 when the band had not started playing yet, I walked out onto the patio because I needed to burn off some stim energy. While I was out there, I ran into my grade school music teacher, Mrs. Millington and her husband.

We all went back into the venue, and we all hung out until the band started playing. There were a few technical difficulties (that we thought really could’ve been fixed during the hour that they made us wait) and I only knew a few of the songs. It was not a bad night, but spending it with family and friends made the not so fun parts worth it.

To be continued…