Shining a light

My Dad is a little obsessed. This is normal. He's an engineer and I've noticed that engineer of a certain age tend to be idiosyncratic. Ted Huntley hid gummy bears in beer steins and surfed the Internet, though it's unclear if he actually does anything on the Internet.

It's possible you could see my house from the top.

Then there's my Dad. He likes lighthouses. More than a little. He likes to visit them, and when the opportunity arises, he likes to buy a small keepsake model of the lighthouse. I'm not sure why, as I've never seen them on display in my parents' house in Florida, but I'm also not on the lookout for the trinkets.

You can guess where we went last spring when my parents came to visit for the first time in late May. There are about a dozen lighthouses within a half-hour drive of our house, but we went to the touristy spot, the one with bus parking, a donations box and fancy displays explaining how the park around the lighthouse used to be a World War II fort.

That would be the Portland Headlight, which makes one of those dubious tourist claims. "It's the most photographed lighthouse in North America," or some such nonsense. As if being easily accessible in a metro area therefore makes it best.

Thing is, I'm my father's son. That is, I'm idiosyncratic as well. Though good with numbers, I chose a career in writing. Though I'm sometimes not sure why.

On our visit last spring, it was unusually quiet. That is, there was almost nobody there. We milled about for an hour and a half — putzing around is a varsity sport in our family — and went home. A day or two later, we had to go back. Because the gift shop wasn't open or we didn't visit the store while we were there before.

That's why I have this --->
That's a genuine Portland Headlight bottle opener. I needed one and this one was just $7! Plus, Dad was buying. Sold.

I've been out to the Headlight several times. Unlike my Dad, I am faithful to one lighthouse. When I hear there will be big waves, I like to go out to take pictures, to get the *definitive* picture of the Headlight. I haven't taken it yet. But I will. I have nothing better to do than hunt big waves.

Now I wonder. Are lighthouses my thing? Am I turning into my Dad? Isn't that kind of inevitable? My Mom has argued, and will again, that I'm totally my Dad. I don't care. As long as I get that picture of the lighthouse.

This, as a hurricane spins offshore.