Earliest Memory: Bar Harbor

This was from another writing prompt on HitRecord.org:

My earliest memory is being in Bar Harbor, Maine on a family vacation.  I was about 6.  My Dad took me down the beach to a lighthouse and we looked inside.  I remember the big spiral stairs circling up into a glare of sunlight.  Still inspiring ...

In fact, I told that tiny tale at his funeral a few years ago.  It was almost impossibly hard to get those few simple words out.  I have no interest in religion, but it seemed perfectly symbolic, that circle of light.  And there was something brave about saying it, in that moment.

It's really hard to return to that place now.