'Mission Impossible' or How I Won Every Argument With Naomi From Now On

Mission Impossible - To surprise Naomi at her sister's wedding while recovering from spinal trauma in the hospital

From Left to Right are:
The Mark: Naomi Doerner (My Girlfriend)
Accomplice #1: Jaret Vadera (Close Friend)
Accomplice #2 and #3: Stephanie and Brendan (Naomi's Sister The Bride, and The Groom)

The Setting:
Naomi, since my accident six weeks ago, had been balancing a full time job, running her summer program for Lower East Side High Schoolers with 2 friends, visiting me in the hospital daily, dealing with insurance and lawyers, and trying to put the house back together after the fire. To say the least she was over extended.

She was also looking forward to her sister's wedding in Westchester and seeing all of her family on one of the rare occasions when they are all together. She was excited, stressed, and going a little batty. The pressure of doing things for me, for her sister, for the wedding, for her family, as well as her own responsibilities was a lot. And bless her heart, what was she most frustrated about, that we would be spending a few days apart. What an amazing woman.

So it was quickly decided that a surprise visit to the wedding was in order and spending a little quality time with my girlfriend celebrating family and friends instead of broken bones and insurance forms was a must.

I first checked with the doctors to get a day pass to leave the hospital. When the nurses found out what I was planning I immediately became the best boyfriend in the world in their eyes. I of course called Steph and Brendan to make sure it was OK with them, and they were as excited as I was. I did ask Steph not to tell anyone, including Naomi's mother, who is probably the worst person to have holding a secret, and thus the plan was taking form. With Steph and Brendan on board it was a matter of the logistics of getting to and from.

I immediately rang Jaret and asked him to help out, he was game for everything. We rented a car for the day, he took a quick wheelchair class at the hospital, and he also stopped by my house to pick up a bunch of clothes for the wedding. And with that we were ready to go.

On the day of the wedding Jaret stopped by the hospital in the afternoon with the clothes. I quickly got changed but with one problem, the brace that I have for my right leg would not fit in my dress shoes. The only other solution was to wear my sneakers. Not exactly wedding attire but it would have to do. Next it was down to the car to load the wheelchair, crutches and me in, with that we were off.

One wrong turn and we were a bit behind schedule but we got there in one piece. The valets had us pull to the side to unload, but just as we park who walks right down towards our car, Naomi of course. We are there for 30 seconds and the surprise was about to be ruined, until she walked within 6 inches of the car in a stressed daze and passed us without a glance. The game was still on.

We made it inside, saw a few of Naomi's family, and they quickly began helping us out. I was taken to the room for the wedding ceremony before arousing suspicion, a few chairs were moved out of the way to park me and the wheelchair, and things were set for the surprise. A few of Stephanie's closest friends were already there and sitting around me. Not knowing me personally but knowing the story of what had happened they were dumbstruck when they saw me and started getting teary eyed when they found out what I was surprising Naomi.

As the procession started the parties passed. Naomi, one of the last to come, walked by without noticing me. She got under the wedding canopy and glanced back towards the audience. She noticed one of Steph's closest friends, who was sitting just in front of me, and the friend was still teary eyed knowing what was about to follow. And then it happened, just what I had hoped for. Naomi glanced back to me, our eyes locked, and it took just a second for realization to set in, a quick look of complete surprise with eyes wide and mouth agape, then her face welled up and tears, tears of joy. It was pretty amazing. A few people around were concerned until they realized what was going on. She let the waterworks run for a few seconds before composing herself for the ceremony, we mouthed an 'I love you' to each other and then the ceremony commenced.

The wedding was beautiful, the ceremony poignant and the party shear joy. It was great meeting her family and friends and especially her grandmother, who like all grandmothers, promised copious amounts of home cooked food if I ever visit. It was also the first time in six long weeks that Naomi and I could just enjoy each other's company, laugh and joke, and not do it in the shadow of a medical institution. A pretty amazing day all in all.