Secret Mission

I was so nervous. I thought of many, many elaborate, complicated plans involving other people, but when it came down to it, I thought, I'll just put him in the car at exactly 7:15 and drive. He had NO IDEA what was happening. My whole family knew, but amazingly no one acted suspicious. We had just finished eating dinner at my parents house at 7:08. At 7:10 I told Dan Barney to go to the bathroom because we were going somewhere. It was a weird thing to say but I thought, if I was whisked off somewhere, I wouldn't want to have to go to the bathroom?! I really try to be thoughtful.

At 7:15, the kittens, Dan Barney and I got into the car. Because it was a couple of days before his birthday, he assumed whatever we were doing had something to do with that. He doesn't like surprises...at all and he mentioned that right as we got into the car. 

As we drove onto the freeway, he got a little nervous. We wouldn't even give him a clue. And then we started saying things like, "did you put the in dad's bag in the back?" It escalated to saying things like,"did you  pack the bamboo skewers?" The kittens and I were hysterical. After the kittens and I finally settled down, and things got quiet in the car, Dan said, "is this an intervention? Is this an angry birds intervention?" His imagination and secret fears were coming out. Interesting?!

We past the airport exit and drove around downtown Salt Lake for a bit to stall. Finally we pulled up to a dangerous looking building. We pulled open a big metal door, walked up some stairs and into a party.

This party was super special. It was a tribute party/art show for Dan Barney, put together by a bunch of artists who all were students of Dan Barney back in high school.  

How great is that?! A bunch of really cool people who wanted to express gratitude for his encouragement, influence and friendship. It was way better than an angry birds intervention. 

Photos by Robyn Gillespie