Not Exactly What I Had in Mind: An Incurable Love Story [Paperback]

One week in 1989, Rosemary Breslin got a headache that wouldn't go away. After countless tests and treatments, doctors knew little about her strange disease except that it wasn't AIDS or cancer. Two years later, out of a job, in debt, and worried about insurance, Rosemary was invited out by friends--not knowing this would be the night she met her future husband. This is one woman's story about having a real life while facing the question of how long she might live. Serialized in Self magazine. 208 pp. National ads. Author tour. 40,000 print.Rosemary Breslin was a journalist and screenwriter. She worked at The New York Times, Newsday, and the New York Daily News. Her articles appeared in Elle, New York magazine, Rolling Stone, and New Republic. The author of Not Exactly What I Had in Mind: An Incurable Love Story, Breslin died in 2004.The Present
 
I think I found my husband’s next wife. Since we bought this tiny cottage in the country a few months back I’d been in search of a good breakfast place that opens early. Much as I love diners and beat-up coffee shops, the coffee never has a good kick and the muffins almost always have the consistency of paperweights. I found a great one that serves thick, strong coffee and light, fresh muffins. As I stood on line to order, I immediately turned my eye to the women who run the place. Standing together, they were good-looking, hardworking, hip. They could handle things.
 
Of the two, Ann’s the one I chose on the spot. I first saw her at the grill, in the early morning rush of farmers and truckers and laborers and newcomers like me, second-home owners from the big city, and sl³…