I grew up in the small coastal town where there was a lighthouse at the end of the beach. Today, when a friend sent me a selfie from this beach with the lighthouse in the background it immediately felt like I was home. So many memories flooded in. As children we were taught to orient ourselves in terms of the lighthouse: “if you get lost go to the lighthouse and we will find you there,” would be a common refrain from a parent. After a day in the sun another parent would chirp that we should keep going, “the car is just the other side of the lighthouse”.  And it was while standing under that Umhlanga lighthouse during a weekend visit in June 2000 that I decided I needed to leave Gauteng and return to the sea. But this journey ended in a different town and a far off lighthouse calling to me. So tonight when I took my photograph to post it was of a lighthouse barely visible, marking the spot where Dassen Island lies on the horison.  But the sense of being guarded over, of having a beacon of light to turn to, remains the same. I am grateful for lighthouses.