Coming Home

Cheese was his middle name. Well, not really.

He was just always carrying a camera around and asking people to smile for him. "Cheese," he'd say before taking a photo. Sometimes he would sneak up on us and take candid shots instead. I have to admit though, his photos were always beautiful.

Mack "Cheese" Lee. I gave him that nickname and was quite proud of it. It sounded good, and he liked cheese too, so it felt fitting.

During our final year of school, I went to his place almost every week. Usually it was to see whatever new gadget he had bought. Mack was a gadget nerd. He loved photography, music, and anything remotely related.

One time he bought a little Crosley vinyl player and couldn't wait to show it off. We spent the afternoon listening to all the records he owned. The music was good, and since we shared the same interests, I always enjoyed hanging out with him. We went to concerts, live band shows, and pretty much every music event we could find.

We both bought guitars and learned from online videos. Then Mack got serious about it and bought a sleek second-hand Marshall speaker. He would plug in his guitar and play for hours. We jammed almost every day. We never played for anyone else, but I guess we played for each other.

Then university started. Mack left for the United Kingdom to study Electrical Engineering while I stayed behind. Because he was on a scholarship, he rarely came home during the breaks.

Before he left, he handed me some of his favourite gadgets and asked me to look after them until he returned.

Tomorrow, four years later, he's finally coming home.

And I can't wait.

Photo by @wakeupkitty

🌻

Come join us at CCC in A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.