The Shoebox: Letters for the Seasons

Letter writing has become all but a lost art in the modern world, replaced by long distance and the ubiquitous cell phone. A letter evokes a more innocent time in America when a soldier carried it through battle tucked into a breast pocket, reading it over and over again until its faded words became an indelible part of his memory; when love letters were bound in colored ribbons and stored forever; when a letter arrived sprinkled with perfume, sealed with a kiss (SWAK) or with X's and O's; and when each letter represented a little intimate part of the sender. It takes time to write a letter. It takes a certain introspection. What a letter says is that the sender cares enough to send a part of him or herself. Writing and receiving letters is truly a precious gift of time well spent. So asserts this remarkable lady, Nancy Louise Shoemaker, whose home in Pennsylvania is known as The Shoebox and whose wit and wisdom through long letters have delighted friends and family for years. With wry humor, insight and a keen sense of observation, Nancy looks at modern life and the human condition through a prism of love and understanding, muddles it over, then comments in personal letter essays that transcend the medium to become literature, poetry and philosophy in the finest sense. She is today's Erma Bombeck, a female Garrison Keeler, a William Henry Thoreau at her own pond as she speaks for the human condition and for the best in all of us. In reviving the art of letter writing through this unique collection of essays and several poems, Nancy ranges the entire spectrum of life from her unique perspective as observer and commentator from The Shoebox. I am truly blessed to have enjoyed Nancyas a friend for over twenty years and to help bring to the world this heart-warming book that reveals all that is good about today's America. Charles W. Sasser