shawn & dale:

It’s Our Party and We Will (with a mixture of gratitude, regret, and relief) Cancel if We Want To.

TLDR; Our June 4 party is cancelled! Yay!

Dearest Dear Ones,

We are pleased to inform you that you are formally and lovingly UN-invited to the celebration of our recent move to our new home at 5702 Woodleaf Drive, Knoxville, TN 37912 and our 10 year wedding anniversary (bound in unholy matrimony since June 2, 2012, baby)!

As moves go, we have felt immensely lucky. We bought a beautiful split level house with a wooded backyard already full of hummingbirds, at least one woodpecker, bunnies, chipmunks, lenten roses, and our beloved porch cat Midi, who rules his new outdoor kingdom with both grace and might. The birds chirp all day long (and weirdly, through the night- anyone have any idea what’s going on there? it’s kind of charming but weird, right?). When we remember to, we sit on the front porch in the morning and drink our coffee, we sit in the backyard and Dale paints with watercolors while Shawn cuts down branches or sets things on fire. We go on little walks around the block and sometimes Midi the cat follows along behind us (TBH, it’s so cute it’s a little weird).

And even cuter- we bought the house from our BFF David, whose family lived there from 1963 until some bank agreed to give us another mortgage so we could have a little more space, peace and quiet. The astute observer might recognize David in the photo below, signing as a witness on our wedding certificate just shy of one decade ago.

And yet… transitions are overwhelming and exhausting when they are combined with all the other things we are currently juggling- and dude, it all really gets in the way of party planning!

More importantly, though, we are more committed than ever to remembering our shared goal of celebrating what matters most in a way that feels good to us right now. And so, sweet pals, we are opting for a quiet celebration that doesn’t involve frantically stuffing boxes into closets and guests rooms. Luckily, we have a hunch that you’ll forgive us for changing our minds so late in the game, and maybe even use those unexpected free hours to do something you love, or nothing at all.

…But surely you know us better than to think we wouldn’t try to find some little way to celebrate with you from afar. You can drop us a line, tell us a dirty joke, share a memory or photo, or try to get us to join your MLM- drop us a letter, shoot us a text, or fill out the FUN NEW FORM we whipped on this very page. We plan to read them Saturday evening over a quiet dinner at home. We love you and miss you and truly hope to see you all soon.

So much love,

Dale and Shawn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! We’d still love for you to help us celebrate (in five minutes or less)!

ACT FAST and fill our the form below (by 6/4 @ 5pm) before you miss this unbelievable offer!

There’s something cool about the way a big life change provides an opportunity to shake things up, change our minds, and think about how we can encourage our most enduring beliefs and values amidst what has too often felt like constant and unrelenting chaos. It brings to mind the “IN THIS HOUSE WE BELIEVE” yard signs that one of us (ahem, it’s Dale) spent way to long playing around with via the New York Times Sign Generator this morning, or the version our friends Adeem and Hannah displayed in their yard which: 1. our money says it was Adeem who put it there and not Hannah but they surprise us all the time 2. involved imagined bestiality with Big Foot.

As part of our celebration this weekend, we’ll be reading through your version of these signs below (or whatever else you choose to write instead). Though our wedding day is June 2, we’ll be observing at home on June 4, so if you want to be part of our intimate two person dramatic reading that evening, feel free to submit by then.