Chapter 1: Family - It's Everything

Life has taught me a lot of lessons, and that’s especially true in recent years.

My name is Nate Freed. One lesson I learned early in life is that family is everything. Guarding your heart and the hearts of those you love is a duty, an honor, and a way of life.

Many of the struggles people face in the world around us are alien to my family and our experience. We live in a community where strong faith is normal. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect—far from it. But it means our lives are anchored so when we do fail, we have the means and attitude to seek forgiveness and recovery.

For example, consider the marriages in my family. All I’ve ever witnessed are strong, committed relationships that last a lifetime. My grandparent’s entire family tree consists of 6 married children and 27 grandchildren, 18 of whom are married while the other 9 are still too young or are still searching for their life partner. In that entire group, there’s not a single divorce. Statistics indicate that 50% of all marriages and 41% of all first marriages end in divorce. That makes my family seem like a miracle. To us, it’s just normal.

The same is true for my wife’s family. Beth grew up just four doors down from the home my parents bought when they were married. Both sets of parents still live in those family homesteads. We all attended the same church and have been close friends for as long as I can remember. So close that my wife’s older sister, Melody, married my older brother Paul. My younger brother, Pete, tried to follow the trend by dating Beth’s youngest sister, Trish, but that didn’t work out. Pete is still looking for his lifemate since Trish married Sean Smith, who is a fine man but not related to me in any way.

Understanding my family and the way we think makes events that follow easier to understand.