Sea Oak

January 12th, 2026

Dearest Liv,

Thank you for the beautiful birthday card. It was delightful.

You shall not be surprised to find out the weather here at Sea Oak has been bitterly cold, although the icy scenery is stunning. The wind coming off the sea is especially biting and could freeze your eyelashes before you even blink. But this too shall pass, as the cliché goes.

Enough for niceties, guess what?

You will not believe it!

During the planned lull in January before tourist season starts up anew, I like to clean the post office as you well know. Guess what I found? I mean you will never guess. Grandma Nora’s Society ledgers. I do not mean society as the Brits talked about “society.” I do mean The Whimsy Letter Society ledgers, the very organization she created in December of 1917 to send letters near and far to those who needed someone to reach out.

The ledgers show all the members and the pen pals. The Society lasted quite a while, through the end of one world war, another one, and beyond. It flagged after Grandma’s death and completely dissolved in time. Such a shame. It brought joy to so many.

By the 2000s, things like letters had been declared obsolete. We were told “analog” was dead and buried (yes, you may read this word with disdain, like talking about cow patties in the middle of the road, with nostrils flared like when smelling cauliflower cooking).

Why would anyone want to put ink to paper when we had emails, and iPads, and cell phones? Speed. Convenience. Now we can even talk to our contraptions and they will write for us. Ha! I tried it once. My smart device decided to translate “hold on a sec” to “hold on to sex.” I was mortified when I hit send and realized the kerfuffle, and at the same time grateful the receiver was Hazel. She is not prone to gossip, and aside from a good laugh, she did not repeat it. One less inclined, who shall remain nameless, would have had it all over town in less than thirty minutes. Oh, the embarrassment.

Well, we have sped ourselves to early graves, if you ask me. Who takes the time to enjoy a cup of tea on the porch, shooting the breeze with a neighbor? No one, that’s who. It is true that I have been spoiled by Sea Oak. As you well know, we still do have it here in the “boondocks.”

Outside Sea Oak, it seems no one has the time, or knows their neighbor well enough, to do this anymore.

Nose on screen, even across tables. Such a shame.

Snail mail is dead, “they” say. You are well aware of my pet peeve when it comes to “they.” Those nameless faces who seem to want to control every area of our lives. Well, I think “they” are wrong, and not for the first time either. I don’t refer to letters as snail mail. It’s sacrilegious. I refer to them as happy mail. A loving and lovely letter never fails to make one smile.

But I digress. Liv, I am wondering. Oh, I am almost afraid to voice it, or write it. What if I reopened the Society? At first, here in Sea Oak where it was first created, but then open further to others who love to write and read letters. There must be other letter keepers in this world.

Am I crazy?

No, don’t answer that.

Is it crazy? What are your thoughts? I will be eagerly awaiting your input.

Your beloved sister,

Erma

P.S. Please visit us soon. I would love to see you, and you know Jack would as well. Our summers are still stunning and temperate while you swelter in three-digit temperatures. And do not give me that dry heat nonsense. Your only claim to fame is the ability to fry an egg in your mailbox, and all civilized humans know mailboxes are for happy letters, not omelettes.

TO JOIN THE WAIT LIST CLICK HERE

To learn more about The Whimsy Letter Society and Sea Oak, please click here or visit the membership site here.

A Note About Sea Oak
Sea Oak is a fictional place, although I like to imagine that somewhere it could be real. Its people, businesses, homes, and The Whimsy Letter Society are creations of my imagination. From time to time, their stories may brush against real people, places, and events from history or from my personal life. When they do, I have tried to treat the history with care, while allowing the fictional world of Sea Oak to grow around it. And with every letter received in the mail, I will always share what is fact and what is fiction.

While you will not find Sea Oak on any map, I hope that with every letter, it begins to feel a little more like somewhere you know and love.