When I was in Grade three, my classmates and I were having our morning vegetable gardening in school. We were pulling out the weeds, raking and cultivating the dirt.

One of my classmates, Analisa (Lisa Rubio Casuga), found a glittering object that looked like a diamond from the dark, loamy, moisture-rich soil. I was very attracted to it that I tried my best to sweet-talk Analisa to give it to me. I might have said a lot of things to convince her.

At the end, I remember, she said she was going to give me the “diamond” only if I promised that I’d be nice to her, from then on. I did, I got it, and I gave the piece of jewelry to Nanay Belen, my grandmother. She kept it. Me and grandma never knew if the diamond was real. It could have been just a broken glass but who knew. Without words, we both treasured it. I think she got it mounted on a ring made of an old one-peso coin when the itinerant goldsmiths came to our barrio one day.

Not sure what became of that ring but for me, it was the most beautiful object I had ever possessed, and I gave it away. This memory stuck with me. After all, diamonds they say, is forever.