effulgence

\ih-FULL-junss\

noun

: radiant splendor : brilliance

i first sought out the meaning of my name, candace, when i was about ten or eleven years old, in the check-out line at klarides market. by the various tabloids (at the time featuring bat boy instead of a bald britney spears, although i see little difference) there was a narrow magazine rack displaying the smaller 5x7 publications: casserole recipes of the week, soap opera digest, and of course, BABY NAMES!

the book defined my name as a bright, glowing light, as in incandescent. wow. i think i breathed a huge sigh of relief at that moment. my life could have taken a turn for the worse. i was already pretty self-loathing—what if my name had meant foot? or ass? or village idiot? things may have gotten ugly. it was pure luck.

i took this meaning pretty personally at the time. my name meant glowing. i began to think of myself as this heavenly body, incandescent, EFFULGENT, luminous, bringing light unto everyone's darkness. i think part of me felt i had to live up to my name; perhaps i was destined for great things. i found out later that the actual origin of my name was a biblical title for ethiopian queens. this only added to the responsibility.

there is a slight difference between EFFULGENCE and incandescence, though. while incandescence always implies EFFULGENCE, this does not always work the other way around. while EFFULGENCE suggests luminosity, incandescence suggests luminosity derived specifically from a source of heat.

are you getting all this? not only am i a glowing ethiopian queen, i'm also HOT.

HOT.