This remains one of my most favourite compositions ever, and to date, I feel that I have still not been able to surpass it. Maybe it's because Maude, both the story and the music I was given the honour and privilege to write has such an emotional value to me, in more ways than it being a labour of love.

It's also an important memoir to one of the best people I ever had the pleasure of knowing, however little time we had as friends. And this person is randomonlooker. He passed away from us in January, 2011, between the 5th and the 8th.
Randomonlooker had a terminal illness, but he still kept his spirits high and shared so much of himself with us, and working with him was so incredibly fun. He didn't know, but he taught me a lot that has since made me a better person, and not a day goes by without me thinking about him in one way or another.
RandomOnlooker changed my life, as I'm sure he's changed others. He had so much joy and playfulness, and he always made the best out of whatever he encountered and set his mind to.
His time with us was far too short, but in that time, he touched more people than most do in a lifetime.
This is why I've dedicated the entire suite I wrote for Maude, a project him and I, along with the rest of the Furry Friends (which we called ourselves) worked on, to him.

I can hardly find the words to describe how I feel, so I will leave it at that.

"Maude" is a story about a young vixen named Maude striving for acceptance as an aviator. It is a story about love. It is a story about finding yourself.

The Furry Friends are:

vixyyfox
randomonlooker
dolphinboy
luxy (<- me)
sparf
panhesekielshiroi

The story, written by vixyyfox, can now be found on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Maude-ebook/dp/B007A7QL9K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329596066&sr=1-1