No, my life did not proceed at all the way I had imagined it, although, at first, everything looked as if it would. I enjoyed my occupation as a flight attendant. With a little good will, life seemed to fully satisfy my wishes as a wife and mother. In the summer of 1994, at the age of 31, I suffered a brain stem thrombosis. It was on the night of my son's second birthday. A cause was never established. All body functions ceased including my respiration. Except for my left eye, I was totally paralyzed.