...be a little different than some of the writings before this. We are going back a little in time. I am going to share with you a little of my family's history, and, for a reason.

     My father's father was a man who meant what he said and said what he meant. He was not a huge strapping man but he walked tall. He started out basically as the son of a tenant farmer who had little except for 11 brothers and sisters. He married a great serious Christian woman and built a very successful seafood business going nationwide. He also never forgot where he came from, or those who helped him along the way.

     As I grew older and got involved in the business after his passing I heard many stories about him. As he was my favorite person on this earth and I spent as much time with him as possible (we lived right beside him) I already knew a lot.

     Back in the days before refrigerated trucks oysterman who worked out in the bay area and long distances from the oyster houses used to go to bigger buy boats to sell their daily catches. They were paid in cash each day. They were getting around $3.00 a bushel then. One of those buy boat Captains who worked for us told me about this one time when a oyster packer from a different area called my grandfather and told him he was in a tight spot and needed to come up to the Patuxent (our immediate area) to buy some shell oysters. He said I give you my word I will not raise the price on them. My grandfather said all right then, if you leave the price alone you can come on up undisturbed. He saw his buy boat sail by on her way up the river. Late that afternoon the oystermen started coming to the buy boats to put out. Now there were two. My grandfather's and this other buyer's. Our Captain said sure enough, this other guy comes out on deck and raised the price 50 cents a bushel. That was a considerable amount back then too. He called my grandfather on the radio and told him what was going on, and asked what he should do. He told me he was told to raise the price a dollar. He radioed back and said this other buyer had gone another 50 cents, what do you want me to do? He was told to go another dollar. He said now we are getting serious Cap'n, how far do you want me to take this? My grandfather said until that s.o.b. pulls his anchor and heads down river. He said, yes sir, that was Cap'n Warren for ya! You keep your word, or you don't and you pay the consequences.

     I remember sitting at his side and listening to him do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business on the phone just by his word. When he told someone I'll do such and such, they knew it would be so. I learned much from him, and truly wished he had lived much longer. I could have learned so much more. Men of his caliber are rare, and pretty much non-existent today. No backbone. No honor. Bottom line dollar means everything. People mean nothing.

     My grandfather CARED for people. Back in those days all of the men working the water were paid in cash each day and there were no real records of what each individual earned. When they went to the bank for a loan or a mortgage, they were often denied as they had no proof of income. Quite a few around home got mortgages from my grandfather as he knew them and knew them to be hard working family men. He did not charge them outrageous interests rates either.

     You didn't mess with his family either, or his property. What was his was his. The oyster house he owned was right below the hill where he lived. He could look out his bedroom window and see what was going on. Once, some outsiders came in and got the idea to unionize the shucker's. He woke up that morning and saw them all gathered outside the building, "on strike". They had threatened him with this and said they would shut him down. My grandmother said she heard him on the phone calling his brothers and telling them, you boys get down here now and bring your guns. She said she tried to talk him out of it but he told her listen my dear, NO man is gonna keep me from going into my place. They didn't either. As they went down the hill he told them he gave them his word he would not shut down. He said move aside or prepare for the worst. He got in. They all KNEW he meant what he said.

     See? A man's word means something IF he sticks to it. Idle threats are just that, idle threats. NEVER threaten, just do. If you believe in something, or have something, like family, that means something to you do what it takes to keep it and defend it. Just as with our God and our way of life. Is it worth defending? I think so. Will you stay the course? Some will. I know ones here who no matter what will be here. How? Their word means something. They will do what they say. Then there are others whose word is no more than empty air. Never count on those kinds as when the going gets tough they will be gone. Poof.

     Your word should be solid as gold. Never give it lightly. When you do give it, then live up to what you promised at all costs. If it causes you inconvenience, so be it. A little discomfort now is better than living with the fact that you broke your word. All of the riches this world has to offer are only temporary. How will you live? Worried about creature comforts, or more concerned with respectability? Honor is something money can not buy.

     Oh. As for my grandfather. When he died, there were so many flowers sent that the funeral director called my grandmother and asked for permission to remove the cards and have baskets taken to the hospital and nursing homes as he could not get any more inside his place. As we came from the funeral home to the church the procession was so long you could not see the end of it, the church was full, the folding chairs were full, and people were standing outside. Respect for a man who kept his word. How will you be remembered?