It was a hot night in the summer of ‘87 when Nicholas James Decker entered the scene. For some reason, the Good Lord dropped him straight into the Heartland of America: the fine state of Iowa. From an early age, he showed interests in a wide range of areas, such as the arts, athletics, spirituality and good old-fashioned horseplay. His regular answer to the question of “what do you want to be when you grow up?” was that he “wanted to do a little bit of everything!” As this answer was typically considered to be too vague for most people, Nick’s follow-up response was that he’d “prefer to be a pro baseball player with some other gigs on the side, including: writer for Saturday Night Live, rockstar, occasional James Bond-esque secret agent and monk.”

At the age of 10, Nick’s life changed, seemingly overnight, when he moved from the cornfields of Iowa to the bright lights (well, light pollution) of the Chicago-land area. Yes, it was during the summer of ‘97 that he took on a new step-dad and step-brother, a new school, new friends and even a new last name, opting to take on his new family last name of Wilson. It was at this point that Nick Wilson entered a real golden-age of adolescence. Just imagine a slightly more PG-13 version of Leave it to Beaver or The Andy Griffith Show set in the late 1990’s of suburban Chicago.

After graduating high school in 2005 with slightly above average grades (nothing to write home about, but also nothing too shabby,) Nick enrolled at Indiana University in picturesque Bloomington, Indiana. He majored in telecommunications (film and media studies) and minored in business, but was sure to make ample room for “socializing” and “networking,” alongside being in a fraternity and hosting a radio show for WIUX.

In 2009, Nick packed up everything he owned (mostly books, records, band t-shirts and frisbee golf discs) in his VW and drove across the country to Los Angeles. After a year of odd-jobs and temporary work in the entertainment industry, Nick managed to land himself a gig at the epicenter of the Hollywood machine: a Beverly Hills talent agency. While at United Talent Agency, Nick’s eyes were opened to the craft and business of film, music, tv and tech start-ups. Nick’s experience training to become a Hollywood agent opened the door for him to take on a role that blended his skills both on the business side and production side of the entertainment industry.

In 2012, Nick began what would become a 4-year stint at the comedy company Funny Or Die. Brought on to help grow the branded entertainment division, Nick had the chance to oversee large creative projects from idea to completion. Working between Hollywood’s most talented writers and filmmakers and world-class advertisers like PepsiCo, Mattel, MillerCoors, Kraft and Volkswagen, Nick acted as an Executive Producer and Account Executive to create high-end branded content & branded experiences. Nick will forever look back fondly on what was by far the “silliest” chapter of his career and what felt like Hollywood’s version of graduate school.

In 2016, sensing a natural “end of an era,” Nick decided that it was time to try something totally different. So he moved to Asheville, NC to pursue personal study and soul-searching. In addition to reading lots of self-help books and going on tons of lengthy hikes and vision quests, Nick spent a year as a freelance journalist. This was a powerful period of discovery in which Nick met a large number of intriguing characters and explored all sorts of new territory, both literally and figuratively.

In 2017, Nick decided that he wanted to experience what is was like to live in a small town. So, once again, he packed up everything he owned and moved to a quaint little town about 45 minutes south of Asheville. Enter Tryon, North Carolina. Population: 1,646.

Shortly after Nick’s arrival to Tryon, he was made aware of the fact that the local arthouse cinema was searching for a manager. In the span of a few hours, Nick typed up a resume and cover letter on his vintage Olivetti Lettera typewriter and tossed it in the mail. Next thing Nick knew, he was living out the plot of a Hallmark made-for-tv movie: A fish out of water story in which a man leaves his big-city, Hollywood lifestyle to search for deeper meaning. He somehow winds up running a charming, old movie theatre in a tight-knit small town community that is unsure whether or not to embrace him as one of their own.

Well, for nearly three years, Nick lived out this Hallmark movie script. Luckily for him, the small community did embrace him as one of their own and he made some lifelong friends during his tenure. But, as with any story, the pages keep turning. Chapters end and new ones begin.

In August of 2020, Nick realized that he’d been away from home for far too long. Perhaps, he thought, it was time to return to his motherland. So, he bought an old church that was for sale in the Illinois countryside town of Woodbine, IL (just outside of Ulysses S. Grant’s former home of Galena, IL.) Funny enough, the church he bought was almost perfectly halfway between his early childhood home in Iowa and his later childhood home in the Chicago suburbs. This could have been due to some sort of subconscious act in honor of sacred geometry.

Shortly after his return to Illinois, Nick switched careers once more and began to work for his Step-Father’s company based outside of Chicago. This move had been a long time coming for Nick, as he’d intentionally avoided this very act for over 20 years. But, he felt it was finally time to see what the family business was all about. So he slogged his way through the learning curve and began to learn all about the exciting world of agricultural-industrial products and the warehousing, distribution, sales and marketing of them.

They say that big life events happen in three’s and Nick would have to agree that there’s some Truth in this statement. Shortly after buying a new home in a new state and starting a new job, Nick managed to fall head over heels in love with a woman he knew from a past life. Coincidentally, she had just moved from New York back to her own motherland of Ohio. Before they knew it, a courtship process had begun and just as soon as Nick had moved into a country church in Illinois, he was moving once again: this time to Covington, KY.

Fast forward a few months: it’s early summer 2021. Nick decides he wants to marry this woman of his dreams after dating her for approximately 7 months. They set a date of Labor Day, which, ambitiously, is only three months down the road.

Fast forward again. It’s February 2022. Nick and his wife are happily married with their two cats and their seven-month-old Rhodesian ridgeback puppy. They had a big summer in 2021 and plan to have an even bigger Spring of 2022. On top of getting hitched and getting a puppy, they bought some gorgeous woodland property overlooking the mighty Ohio River and began plotting their forever home, which synchronistically is just a couple miles down the road from Ulysses S. Grant’s birthplace. They sold their house in Covington and moved into a rental home in the suburbs as they save up for their dream home. Biggest of all, in June of 2021, they found out that they have a baby boy on the way, due in the Spring of 2022. Oh and Nick changed his name from Nick Wilson back to his birth name of Nick Decker.

Fast forward once more. It’s April of ‘22. Nick and his wife welcomed a precious baby boy into the world on the 6th of March, ushering in the sleepless, yet profoundly beautiful era of parenthood. Nick decided to resign from his job in the family business in order to focus on bonding with his beautiful family. After endlessly banging his head against the wall thinking about possible job opportunities and simultaneously being exasperated from a fruitless nanny search, clarity arose: Nick Decker, stay-at-home-Dad. At least for the time being.

And… let’s fast forward one more time. It’s September of ‘22. This is the final fast-forward, as we’re now caught up to the present. Nick is thoroughly enjoying Dad-life and all of the rewards and responsibilities that come with the territory. Being a Dad is pushing him to become a better person in more ways than he could imagine. He highly recommends parenthood to anyone who is contemplating taking the leap! Oh, and Nick and his family are in the thick of preparing to build their dream home out in the woods. They hope to break ground soon!

And this is where we’re at in the ongoing story of Nick Decker. Everything is unfolding just as the Good Lord planned.