Hear From The Unseen Wonder Creative Team Member

Hello and welcome back to the Wonder Creative Blog! Today, I am honored to introduce to you Aaron Tilley, my amazing husband! We will share with you how we met, our life journey so far, and you will learn a little about Aaron’s somewhat unseen, but vital role with Wonder Creative. You can find this full conversation over at the Wonder Creative Podcast (listen on the player above or anywhere you listen to podcasts).

Who is Aaron Tilley? He is an amazing dad and my phenomenal husband. We met when I was 16 and he was 19. We attended the same youth group. He started working with the church dance/drama team and later joined the worship team. This is where we first started to really connect and become friends. I had gone through a really bad breakup and Aaron was such a good friend during that time.

This friendship turned into dating. We dated on and off and on and off and ON AND OFF. 😆 We broke up a whopping 4 times. I just could not seem to receive the true and pure love he was freely giving me. I had never really been loved like that. After our last breakup, I knew something was different. I knew I loved this man and that we needed to pursue marriage. So, we got engaged and married in October 2015.

We lived in Tennessee for 2 years and then moved to South Carolina. That’s when we really began dreaming about our lives. As the story goes, we had our son, Asher, and 3 months later, I was laid off. And viola! Wonder Creative was born (if you missed The Origin Story…you can go here to read allllllll about that lol).

Aaron was unbelievably supportive as we launched into this journey. He had also stepped away from his job to raise our son while I worked. Navigating this new situation was both exciting and scary. Scary, because of the possibility of failure. Exciting because we deeply believed that launching into a life of entrepreneurship was our next step and that it would all work together for our good. He had seen the intense stress I endured working for other companies and felt that working for myself and owning my own business was the best thing for our family. He saw my creativity and passion and wanted me to thrive in that. 

We moved to Georgia, where we now live. After getting our feet up under us here, we decided to dig our heels into all things Wonder Creative. This was our life now; me working full-time on Wonder Creative and Aaron working the full-time, stay-at-home dad life. 

Just as there was a learning curve for me becoming a business owner, there was a learning curve for Aaron becoming SAH dad.

Aaron says,

“I feel like it is a lot of learning the cadence of it all and growing WITH your child in all you do. When your child is super young, they aren’t mobile, they’re on a pretty set schedule, they go to bed early, etc. But as they grow you have to grow with them. Things Asher and I did when he was 2 do not work now. There are different priorities and emphases now that he is 4 than when he was smaller and I’ve just had to evolve and change with him.”

Growing up in church, it was thought that only women should be the ones to always be with the children. Pretty much everything about our day-to-day is untraditional. In the earlier stages of us beginning this journey we got a little pushback from different people. But we knew we had to pursue what we were each meant to do and follow our hearts, regardless of societal or traditional norms. We’re truly the happiest we’ve ever been.

One of my most favorite things in our marriage has been watching Aaron carve his own path to being an incredible SAH father. There are mommy blogs and mommy influencers by the dozens. And often moms can feel the pressure to be just like every other mom because of that. For dads, I don’t really see this. You don’t really see daddy influencers out there…lol. So Aaron has an amazing opportunity to lean into his own unique parenting style with our son. I hate that society can, at times, put down and mis-perceive SAH dads. I really do wish there were more resources for them.

Aaron is following the voice of the Lord and following his heart, growing everyday alongside our son and it is a privilege to see. It is truly the most creative, joyous, demanding job that there is, and Aaron is a super star at it!

So to dads out there in a similar position, Aaron has this to say.

“1. You can do this.

2. It is so important to have a solid support system with your spouse. Communicate all the time, whether it’s a hard conversation or not. Have lots of grace with one another because it’s important to be on the same page and be a team. 

3. Be like water with your child when it comes to what you do in the day. Have a plan, but be flexible. It’s ok if things don’t go to plan. The ultimate priority is your child’s needs.

4. Know that it’s okay to be wrong and make mistakes. Take a minute and talk to your child and use mistakes as a learning opportunity. Don’t be afraid to communicate and explain difficult things to them. Our children knowing that we have frustrating feelings and how to deal with them appropriately is so important. Be honest with your child. Tell them how you are feeling.

5. Don’t get so caught up in the day-to-day routine that you lose focus. Remember that the days your child is looking to you to help shape them are limited. Don’t lose the importance of the moment. They are only little for a short amount of time. Revel in those days.”

Not only is Aaron a wealth of wisdom and a phenomenal parent, but he is my number 1 sounding board for all things Wonder Creative. He gets to see everything in seed form, from Instagram Reels to full-on client projects. He is always my biggest cheerleader.

This is a FAMILY business, and I’m so proud to honor Aaron + share this part of our life with you.

Thanks for reading! I hope it was encouraging to other families out there who do things a bit differently. ❤️