My husband’s job was once ruled by the sun. For five years he worked as a real estate photographer. His job was to capture a home in its best light to help an agent market her listing. The better the picture, the better the chance someone clicked on the listing, the faster the closing papers were drawn.

This meant that my husband spent his work days peering up at the sun, checking his weather app, and dreading the stray cloud. Sometimes, just when the moment seemed right, he would steady his tripod to snap a stunning home portrait, and out of nowhere, a cloud would cover the sun casting long shadows over the eaves and windows, darkening the home and dampening the curb appeal. He’d be forced to wait until the cloud moved, taking the shadows with it.

Though he no longer spends his days judging the position of the sun in the sky, the image of the those shadows drifting across rooflines lingers in my mind.