You long for a morning like this morning. A morning on the water in Charleston, South Carolina, where the clouds part just in time for sunrise rays to blast through and color them with deep oranges and yellows. This was about to be one of those mornings. I could feel it.

Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a cruise ship entering the harbor. It looked like it was going to pass right in front of my position at the end of the pier near the Fort Sumter National Monument. But as it got closer it was clear that it was not going to pass, it was going to turn… right in front of me. At the exact moment the sun was about to break through it positioned itself directly in front of my lens and sat there. It just sat there.

There was little room on the pier to change position enough to see around it, so I waited. By the time I could position myself and the ship had begun to move again, the sun was already well above the horizon. That moment I wait for, long for even, was interrupted and obscured. I do hope that the people on the ship were awake and gazing out their windows at that moment. They certainly had the perfect view. It would bring me some measure of joy to think the captain positioned them so they could enjoy this morning’s sunrise. I’m going to believe that’s true, whether it is or not.

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