Grab some popcorn for one of Gilbert's best love stories - the one that's helping the rest of us bring more connection into our own homes.
Aaron Freeman had zero game when he walked up to Jocelyn at a Phoenix gym. No pickup line. Just "hello." And then he asked for her email address instead of her phone number.
If you're not smiling right now, check your pulse.
But here's where it gets good: a few months in, Aaron got scared and tried to break up with her.
"He was afraid of getting hurt again," Jocelyn recalls. "I gently challenged him to look at where that fear was coming from and to take a leap of faith with me."
That leap turned into over a decade of marriage, a daughter they adore, and a mission that's reached over a million people. Jocelyn and Aaron Freeman are internationally recognized marriage coaches who both hold Master's Degrees in Psychology, and their content now reaches 15-20 million couples every month. They're podcasters, soon-to-be published authors with Penguin Random House, and they're doing it all from right here in Gilbert.
When Everything Changed
By 2022, the Freemans had spent seven years creating marriage content that barely anyone noticed. Then everything hit at once: investments crashed, their daughter arrived, and they seriously considered if they should give up on the business, not because of a lack of passion, but because they hadn’t gotten the real win they needed.
"We asked for a sign," they shared. "Overnight, one of our reels went viral and took us to one hundred thousand followers."
That moment became the turning point. Now over a million followers watch Jocelyn and Aaron act out those marriage moments we all experience but rarely admit to - the fight that starts because someone left a cabinet open, the season where you're more like roommates than partners, the repair conversation that feels awkward but somehow brings you back together.
It resonates because it's real. They're not pretending to have it all figured out. They're showing us what it looks like to stay on the same team, even when the team is having a really off day.
The Conversations Are Changing
Their workshops sell out fast because couples are hungry for what the Freemans offer: real tools that actually work. You know those girlfriend lunches where we used to vent about the same frustrating relationship patterns - how he did that thing AGAIN, why can't he just listen, the fight about nothing that somehow became about everything? Those conversations are starting to sound different now. Someone always brings up The Freemans - "I tried that ‘I see my part' thing and he stopped to listen," or "We put our phones down for five minutes like they said and it completely changed the evening." We're still talking about our relationships over salads and wine, but now we're laughing about what's working instead of just complaining about what's not.
Why Gilbert Is the Perfect Setting
"Gilbert has this incredible energy," the Freemans share. "There's a real intentionality here about community, about showing up for each other, and about prioritizing family."
It's true. In a town where neighbors know each other, Jocelyn and Aaron have found the perfect place to raise their daughter and build their mission. Their daughter is growing up watching what an emotionally connected marriage looks like - not the Instagram version, but the real one. Two people who choose each other on the good days and the hard days, who apologize when they mess up, who genuinely like each other even after a decade together.
After one of their workshops, a couple quietly approached them and shared they'd been seriously considering divorce. Something they heard on the Freemans' podcast made them pause and try a completely different approach to an old problem.
"That's when we understood this work shifts the entire emotional climate of a home," Jocelyn and Aaron explain. "When couples feel more connected, their kids feel more secure, and that ripple effect touches everything."
Every kid deserves to grow up watching a marriage that's not just surviving but thriving. And in Gilbert, where family really is everything, that mission hits home.
Three Simple Ways to Show Love
The Freemans shared their go-to moves for showing love that don't cost a thing - and honestly, they work better than flowers:
Be fully present. Put the phone down, make actual eye contact, and listen like what they're saying matters. Because it does.
Take responsibility quickly. "Nothing brings two people closer than someone saying, 'I see my part.'" Those four words? They're magic.
Appreciate out loud. Notice the small things and say them. "Thanks for unloading the dishwasher" or "I saw you filled up my car with gas." Feeling seen creates the kind of closeness that a dozen roses can't touch.
The Book We're All Waiting For
This winter, Jocelyn and Aaron are publishing Same Team with Penguin Random House. The book tackles the topics we're all navigating: how to stay close after kids turn your life upside down, how to break those unhealthy patterns we watched growing up, and how to model the kind of marriage our children will want for themselves someday.
The book launches Winter 2026, and the Freemans have big plans to bring even more resources and events to the community that's been cheering them on from the beginning.
You can find them on Instagram at @meet_thefreemans for daily relationship tools (and those eerily accurate marriage skits), listen to The Empowered Couples Podcast for perspectives from both sides, or go deeper with their workshops and challenges at MeetTheFreemans.com.
Because here's the thing about the best love stories - they're not the ones that start perfectly. They're the ones where two people keep choosing each other, keep growing together, keep showing up even when it's hard.
And we're pretty lucky Jocelyn and Aaron Freeman are doing it right here in Gilbert, showing the rest of us it's possible too.
"That's when we understood this work shifts the entire emotional climate of a home. When couples feel more connected, their kids feel more secure, and that ripple effect touches everything."
The Freemans will share relationship insights and practical tools in upcoming issues of Gilbert Lifestyle Magazine as they prepare for their fall 2026 book launch. Follow their journey at @meet_thefreemans on Instagram.