"It's the Journey that Counts" begins the story of a young Air Corps Lieutenant and his wartime bride. The two are separated during World War II when he sets sail on the USS Joseph T. Dickman as part of a large military convoy. Bound for a destination unknown, he and four special friends will participate in the best-kept secret in modern warfare, the African Invasion. Of the five men, only the writer's husband will return. Later, widowed at fifty and left with two minor children and no permanent home, the writer experiences feelings of inadequacy and trepidation. A good life will follow, but satisfactory answers never seem clear to the nagging and persistent "whys" of life. At age seventy she returns to her Alma Mater, a highly structured woman's college in the Deep South, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary for her class of 1942. When the weekend brings unusual encounters with aging friends, a unique perspective of life's history begins to unfold. Only then does she accept the fact that the "whys" of life may never be satisfactorily answered: yet life, like her mother's quilt tops, may likely reveal the greatest warmth and coziness with the final quilting.