Not only did the Holt, Michigan-based couple take five private ballroom dance lessons to prepare for the first dance at their wedding reception, in hopes of surprising their 200 guests on Saturday night; they'd also struggled to find a dance studio that could accommodate them, since a 1996 diving accident left Palmer paralyzed.
"I called 20 dance studios in the Lansing area, and some of them were willing to try (wheelchair dancing), but nobody had any experience with it," said Longley. "This was just not a time when we wanted to fumble through things with somebody who was doing it for the first time."
Palmer initially came up with the idea, having found footage of wheelchair dancing online.
"Most people – even when neither of them are in a wheelchair – just stand there and sway back and forth," Palmer said of first dances at weddings. "Usually it's nothing fancy. ... And people are probably thinking (Corey) will just ride around in my lap."
"I will not do that," Longley added, emphatically.
"That's kind of what's expected," said Palmer. "But now we have this skill we'll be using the rest of our lives. Now we can go to other people's weddings and feel comfortable out on the dance floor."
LEARNING TO ENJOY THE (LONG) JOURNEY
Longley and Palmer eventually stumbled upon the Fred Astaire Dance Studio, the only studio in Michigan with an established "Dance Mobility" program that teaches ballroom dancing to people with disabilities.
One problem: the studio's located in Bloomfield Hills, so Palmer and Longley's round trip drive (from the East Lansing area) for each lesson, scheduled every other week, would be in excess of three hours.
"At first, we were dreading the drive," said John. "But it became nothing. We'd just get talking and talking, and it became no big deal."
"During the first lesson, we were fumbling all over, and I think we both thought, 'How are we going to do this?'" said Palmer. " ... We were always worried about me running over her wedding dress or her foot, but when you do the spins and turns – it's not an issue when you understand the way the chair moves, and how you can play off each other."
But the long drives to the dance studio sometimes made it hard for the couple to keep their efforts a secret.
"Sometimes our parents would call us when we were in the car, and we'd just say, 'We're going to a wedding thing,'" said Palmer. "We just didn't say what, specifically."
Plus, they've used their garage as a dance practice space; but because it has a storm water drain, the floor is tilted, adding an extra layer of challenge.
"I keep telling Corey that when we're on a level floor, we're going to end up walking sideways," said Palmer.
Yet this wouldn't be the first time Palmer felt like his world was tilting.
A LIFE-CHANGING ACCIDENT
In August 1996, two weeks before he was scheduled to start classes at Michigan State University on a swimming scholarship, Palmer – who grew up in Dexter - had been "messing around" at the Ann Arbor Country Club pool, where he worked as a lifeguard. When he dove into five and a half feet of water, he hit the top of his head, fracturing his C-7 vertebrae (but not causing him to lose consciousness).
The next morning at U-M Hospital, Palmer had surgery to fuse vertebrae C5, C6, and C7, and surgeons used both bone from Palmer's hip, as well as titanium, to achieve this end.
Palmer's recovery was greatly accelerated, thanks to the upper body strength he'd developed as an All State and All American swimmer.
"I spent the next three months at U-M," said Palmer, referring to the Hospital's inpatient rehabilitation program for those with spinal cord injuries. "I really had to start over from scratch. I was classified as a quadriplegic – my right hand was really, really weak – so I had to learn how to feed myself, dress myself, work up the energy to work the wheelchair. ... But in 1996, you'd usually be in the hospital at least 6 months, and I got out in 3."
Even so, Palmer's life suddenly looked nothing like the one he'd expected to have.
"I'd been a swimmer, so I was active, and the kind of guy who'd drop anything to help someone out, and I'd never asked anyone for help," Palmer said. "It was about a year before it really hit me. I'd been down in the dumps a lot, and I just realized that this is not the person I am. I made a conscious decision not to let it get me down anymore. ... I've got my scuba license, I still swim, I go snowmobiling – anything I can get my hands on. But yeah, that first year was pretty rough. I attribute my recovery to my family and friends, who dragged me out to things, whether I wanted to go or not."
After 3 months of in-hospital rehab, Palmer took some classes at Washtenaw Community College, but in the fall, he finally got to MSU's campus, initially studying engineering before changing his major to telecommunications and computer networking. (Palmer, 37, now works as a software developer.)
He initially worried about his wheelchair putting a damper on his romantic prospects, but "I kind of blossomed when I got to college," Palmer said. "I dated around a little bit."
A SPARTAN LOVE STORY
Longley, who grew up in Tecumseh, attended MSU when Palmer did, but their paths didn't cross until they checked out each other's profile on Match.com. (Longley, 35, works in development at MSU.)
"I got a text message a day or two before our first date, and it said, 'You noticed I'm in a wheelchair, right?'" said Longley.
"Not everybody does," said Palmer. "You'd be surprised."
"I didn't think twice about it," said Longley. "He's lived a great, fulfilled life. There was never a moment of hesitation for me. John's got a great outlook, he's happy, he's positive, so it's a non-issue. It would be different if he was miserable and complaining all the time. I honestly don't even think about it anymore."
Though the couple lives near East Lansing, Longley lived in Ann Arbor (and worked at U-M) for several years and loves the town, so when Palmer proposed at home in April – with the help of his dog, who delivered Longley's ring – Longley wanted to have the ceremony in her former church, and the reception at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
That's where they were Saturday night, when friends and family braved the snow to see the couple execute the dance moves they'd worked so hard to learn while Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" played in the museum. ("It was always on the radio when we were dating, and we liked it," said Longley of the song choice.)
Both families had been very involved in the wedding planning process, so Longley and Palmer maintained the mystery as a means of giving them a gift.
But underlying all the secret lessons and garage dance rehearsals is the couple's promise to love and stick by each other, no matter what else life could possibly throw their way – including several inches of snow falling on their wedding day.
This sudden blast of winter, though, only seemed to make the reception's atmosphere all the warmer, as guests stood in a crowd around the dancing couple.
"We're very similar people," said Longley. "It's like, he's the male version of me, and I'm the female version of him. We really are like two peas in a pod."
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