Meet Maude

My grandmother was a strong, independent, eccentric woman who was amazing. One of my fondest memories was during the trip we took to New England when I was about 12. She went swimming with me at Hooper's Landing, in Cotuit MA, but she came out in the ocean water with me carrying an umbrella because she didn't want to get wet !! She would traditionally dress up on Halloween and instead of handing out candy, she would take the "worst" piece of candy from each kid. And they loved her. She always had lots of trick or treaters every year. She raised 4 children on her own without a husband or father long before there were many single moms out there.

For my 18th birthday, she wrote me a letter a week for an entire year. Considering how far apart we were, she was the best grandmother a young woman could ask for. When I ran away from home at an early age, instead of being angry or mad, she said ... "What a brave young woman you are!" And she loved me through it all. She was loved by so many people and carried her eccentric and slightly crazy personality to the very end of her journey on this earth. I still miss her every day, but not with pain any more, but just a feeling of warmth because I know she is here with me still, watching over me and loving me.

She was known by a variety of nicknames and Granny Goose was the most popular. But her given name was Maude Phyllis Beverly. She later dropped the Maude as she hated it, and then was known as M. Phyllis Beverly (Dudley). For years I didn't even know what the M. stood for and I don't think Gramma ever told me ... I think my mom did. The meaning of the name "Maude" is "Powerful battler or Powerful warrior". It fits Gramma just fine.

So Vic and I were thinking of what piece of "us" to bring along this journey and decided on this beautiful sculpture created by David Govadare and given to us by Vic's sister Cassie and her husband Terry on our 1 year anniversary. Govadare is the same artist that did the runners in down town Spokane and the horses at Vantage point, along with several other pieces around the state.

So this is Maude. She welcomes you to our motor home and we will take pictures of her throughout our journey ... a little bit of home and family along for the ride. We will post pictures through out the trip, letting you guess where Maude is along the way. And yes, Gramma is probably rolling over in her grave to know that I named anything "Maude", but it warms my heart to know that she will be with us and I will have a chance to show my daughter where this remarkable woman lived and raised her own family.

Approaching the 2 month mark before our departure. Trying like crazy to get organized and everything wrapped up here. The RV goes in for a tune up next week, and then hopefully we are off for a 2 week extended trip around WA and OR to say good bye to family before we head out East.