At 5.15 on the evening of 2 January 2008, my mother, Virginia Ruth Senseman Murphy, departed this dimension six months shy of her 85th birthday. On this evening almost exactly 15 years later, I am missing her, but recalling lines from Will It Be Okay?, Crescent Dragonwagon’s 1977 picture book classic in which a worried young daughter’s questions are answered by her wise mother. Recently published in a new edition illustrated by Jessica Love, those characters’ ultimate exchange in their loving catechism comes to mind.
The fearful child asks:
“What if you die?”
Her mother answers:
“My loving doesn’t die. It stays with you, as warm as two pairs of mittens, one pair on top of the other. When you remember you and me, you say: What can I do with so much love? I will have to give some away.”
How fortunate to have so wise a mother!
I did. I do.
Georgeann Murphy 
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