I’ve been a fan of lighthouses since high school. Curiously, it wasn’t a real one that first caught my eye. I was on a college visit to Bowling Green with my mom. We walked into a Thomas Kinkade gallery, whose work I was unfamiliar with at the time… and there it was. A lighthouse like I’d never seen before. Kinkade is known as the “painter of light” and anyone can see why.
I felt the light somewhere deep in my soul and it has stayed there ever since. At one point, I even thought I wanted to move to Maine and live in a lighthouse. That is, until I realized all the work it takes to actually run one. If you’re looking for a good lighthouse story to read with children, try Toni Buzzeo’s Lighthouse Christmas. Cynthia Rylant also has a charming series of early chapter books called The Lighthouse Family. I like the sound of that, don’t you? And finally, for independent readers, try the regional tale, A Pocketful of Passage by Loraine Campbell.
So what is it about lighthouses that draws us to them? Perhaps it’s because we’re all on a journey at sea in a storm looking for safety. Looking for a light. Something to suggest hope.
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you until it seems that you cannot hold on for a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe
Some of my favorite lighthouses are in Michigan scattered along the Great Lakes. My husband and I have seen quite a few of them, but our favorite is Point Betsie Lighthouse in Frankfort, MI. It’s a real beauty. We almost got married there, but the lighthouse was under renovation at the time.
After my accident, I was searching for a little hope and found it in Petoskey, MI. There’s a great little lighthouse there, which I was lucky enough to sketch. I think that was a beginning. Or perhaps life coming full circle.
“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.” — Anne Lamott
So my dear readers, search for a light if you must, but also think about being one.
My new mantra is: I don’t have a leader, I have a center.
Jun 07, 2013 @ 00:15:25
I love this post! Thank you!
Jun 07, 2013 @ 01:38:30
I never knew that the trip to BG was the beginning of your love of lighthouses:)
Jun 08, 2013 @ 17:48:43
I love your lighthouse illustration! I am also a big fan of lighthouses, ever since I was young. They are romantic (to me) as well as being a source of strength and hope. My favorite is the Pointe Aux Barques in Port Hope, MI, which also has a shipwreck museum attached to it (kind of ironic, lol)
Jun 08, 2013 @ 17:55:06
Thanks! Is that lighthouse you mentioned in the UP? I know we’ve been to a shipwreck museum there that was really cool. Spooky! It was off of Lake Superior, I believe…