For my new series, “A Love Affair with Words,” I have chosen ones that not only evoke strong images but that, for some reason, the words themselves feel beautiful or intriguing to me. Today’s word is ‘Iridescent.’

Iridescent is the subtle glimmer of glitter strewn across my kitchen floor. And sweeping up “pretty dirt” as I admire my girls’ newest pieces of art drying on the counter. It’s sitting down to cuddle on the couch with one of my babies and spotting a flicker of color in their hair. And smiling because my son somehow always has glitter on his scalp.

Iridescent is the diamond-like sparkle of fresh snow lying on the ground under the next morning’s long sun rays. As if a fairy came by in the middle of the night and sprinkled her sparkling dust everywhere. Lighting up the earth with a dancing glimmer more beautiful than jewels. As intangible as air. As delicate as moth’s wings. It is the way the sun plays in the crystalline structure of ice ribbons lining the roadside, or the frost as it twinkles like stars fallen down.

The shimmer of a singular drop of rain after a spring storm, balanced on the tip of a pine needle. Vibrating, quaking as it falls and catches a beam of sunshine. The brilliant, myriad colors of fireworks exploding above a quiet lake, reflected in a shower of orange sparks. Or the silvery paint of the moonlight across a forest floor.

It’s the glint of spiders’ eyes beneath the beam of a flashlight on a late summer evening walk and standing in a driveway laughing with my mom, Aunt Wendy, and cousin Becky while my daughters grip my hands and wonder at the sheer number of reflections among the grass.

Iridescent is the sizzle of sparklers on Fourth of July. The ruffle of leaves as a summer storm front moves in and turns them silver-side up. The bolt of lighting zinging across a purple sky. The flash of a trout leaping from the river, the rainbow on its side beaming.

Iridescent is every season and shines in all the world. In the tiny corners and cobwebs. In the minute details and little seams. Under my feet. Above my head. All around me.