Me Too.

You’ve, no doubt, heard the phrase Me Too.

It’s a movement meant to empower victims of S.A.

To my family, Me Too has always had an entirely different meaning.

My Pop Pop, Charlie Green, was a party boat captain in the 1950’s and 60’s.

They call them charter boats now, but in those days they were party boats. People paid Pop Pop to take them fishing in the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. For a while he worked out of Slaughter Beach, and later the Indian River Inlet.

I’ve seen photos of two of the boats he owned and operated. One was named Snookie. And the other one was named the Me Too.

I had never heard how he came up with those names, but apparently my Mom was a key part of naming the Me Too.

Mom and her siblings grew up near the water. She was the second youngest of 8 children, and the youngest girl. She said she knew how to swim before she knew how to walk, which was probably not much of an exaggeration. She also loved to fish, and apparently the older kids always got to go out on the boat with Pop Pop. But Mom, being younger, was often left out.

Often, when Pop Pop would leave to take the boat out fishing, Mom would run after him crying, “Me too! Me too!”

So when he replaced the Snookie with a new boat, he named it the Me Too.

I had heard about the Me Too my whole life. I even have a handmade model of it that my Uncle Danny built. He worked on it as a first mate through high school.

But I had never heard why it was named the Me Too until my mom’s funeral. Someone who lived near them at the beach saw the picture above, and related the story to us.

Apparently as she grew up, Pop Pop sometimes took her fishing, as evidenced by this photo. That’s my Mom on the right, apparently having her hand bitten off by a big fish.

I love this photo. Innocence. Simpler times. The joy and pride on her face. They didn’t have much but they didn’t notice.

Their family was tight knit and they loved each other. Mom Mom and Pop Pop Green produced some great kids and their legacy continues today through their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

They’re lives were centered around family and friends, because they believed without each other we have nothing.

Me too.