This First Person column is written by Caroline Woodward, who worked as a lighthouse keeper on the Pacific Coast from 2008 to 2021. For more information about First Person stories, see the FAQ.
When people discover that my husband and I were lighthouse keepers together on the Pacific Coast for 13 years, their facial expressions betray horror at the idea of living in isolation on some remote island. Or their eyes droop to half-mast, followed by a dreamy smile, as they perhaps imagine a burly lightkeeper wielding a telescope, while a willowy young woman is propped on a rock gazing out