i'm packing letters and cards into a box and reading some of them again.

like this kind letter from yvonne (on beautiful, translucent paper with painted flowery boughs) on the passing of my uncle, which i don't think i'd yet thanked her for:

love takes hostages. but my dear, [she writes] the capacity to feel this much and to this depth, the reality of your attachments and commitments, ability to give unreservedly - they all lure life on. remember the lightness of soul and laughter [...] when all the lights seem to go out one by one. you're not so far that we can't hear you, and those who love you will always have hands out and arms wide open.

(i love the stamp! singapore-belgium joint issue, depicting beautiful three-storeyed shophouses along bukit pasoh road.)