Every jewel has a story

Days before the feast of St. Valentine, I found myself pounding away on the keys of my sister Christine’s laptop to compose a Valentine press release for our jewelry store. As I wrote the story, bright and beautiful ideas started to pour into my head. These ideas came like plunderers in the night and I found myself running after them. I couldn’t contain myself with the outpouring of creative juices until the ideas crystallized to become one brilliant jewel: The birth of this column.

First, the title: Family Jewels. A thing of beauty that lasts forever, a jewel is a tangible piece that lives to tell a tale. Being in the exciting jewelry business for over 20 years (hmm, my age is showing) has allowed me to witness many shining moments in the lives of many people. Every person in every family who owns a piece of jewelry has a story to tell about his best-kept shimmering treasure. It usually is given to someone special and usually for a special occasion. I have been privy to somehow seal so many beautiful and such memorable moments. Some of the characters in these beautiful moments may not be around anymore but hey, the memories of the jewels they have left behind are living testaments to their presence for they evoke unending stories of love and romance.

Second: My mission. Operating on the premise that a lovely story or an anecdote is behind every piece of jewelry, I look forward to entertaining you, dear readers, with romance and passion. I will entice you with stories of love and laughter and celebration. I will also give advice on the latest jewel trends, jewelry care and maintenance, diamond investing, jewelry recycling, among other things that concern jewelry. Since I am always thrilled to be a part of a blooming romance, expect me to be there to help you choose jewelry for your loved ones.

Oh, how I enjoy it when soon-to-be betrothed couples come to me and seek my advice on what kind of wedding bands to wear. How I relish the sight of a gentleman choosing an engagement ring for his fiancée. These and more I promise to share with you in the future.

For now, let me begin with my own family jewels. Let me share a short story about my family and how jewelry played a role in making us so close to one another.

Some 36 years ago, our late parents, Vicente and Mila Dayrit, started a jewelry business in the garage of their home in Forbes Park when the area was still filled with tall talahib grass. What started as a small venture became a flourishing business for us. Now that they are gone, their memories, like sparkling diamonds, live on.

I remember how our Mom would call us siblings – Jaqui, me, Mark, Christine and Yvonne – as her five crowning jewels. As I sit here, I am also filled with the memory of the pearl wedding anniversary of my parents. Mom wore a pearl necklace with the pendant across her forehead that made her look like a mestiza Muslim princess as Dad walked her down the aisle.

My late grandmother, Abuelita Nena, gave Mom her favorite turquoise pendant when Christine was born because she said my third sister was her lucky charm. Dad readily agreed and called Christine the family’s "jewel baby" for it was when she was born that our jewelry business flourished. When Mom had Christine in her womb, she would pray her daily devotion to St. Martine de Porres in a chapel in Leon Guinto, Manila. Church people would sell her raffle tickets and as always she would win the grand prize. Mom would always waive or donate her prize. Perhaps because of her generosity, God blessed her with a lucky baby. As Dad put it: "An act of kindness comes back tenfold."

One of my funniest memories is that of our only brother Mark who kept an engagement ring in his pocket for weeks. My sisters and I were so nervous because the ring had traveled to Hong Kong and Thailand and back, but he had not yet given it to Mylene. He had gone to Baguio and almost lost the ring when the boat they were riding almost capsized in Burnham Park. Thank God, for today the ring is sitting safely on Mylene’s finger where it truly belongs forever.

We have a favorite jewel we created which we call the "wedding tiara" simply because no one else in the family has worn it with more prestige and elegance than our eldest sister Jaqui. And if you care to know, we have a term called the "warning ring" that comes ahead of the wedding ring. This is how we coined it: When my brother-in-law Pael was still dating my youngest sister Yvonne, he gave her a ring to warn her that he was into something more.

Since jewels played a part in all the weddings of every member of my family, I can’t help but associate each with the funny experiences we had with our father, the outrageous Ting Dayrit. Each time one of us got married, Dad would die inside. Thus he created "scenes" in valiant attempts to stop weddings. Those "scenes" would forever be embedded in our hearts and minds.

Once, he detained the bride in the house for hours before she walked down the aisle. In another, he followed my sister to her honeymoon. Another time, when a US-based gentleman came home to the Philippines to ask for the hand of one of his daughters, Dad deliberately made himself scarce by hiding abroad so as to procrastinate the pamanhikan.

Another incident caused a stir in the church when a sister of mine was coaxed by Dad to go to Hong Kong instead of heading to Santuario de San Antonio for her altar date. Mind you, both their tickets were ready and he even had a ready packed suitcase for my sister. But Mom prevailed and brought my sister to the church – but not without having the bridal car going around the ramp of the church three times!

Such funny and beautiful memories! A very good family friend, healing priest Fr. Corsie Legaspi, once philosophized that God gives us memories so that we might use them in the Decembers of our lives. It is with loving memory that this column came into existence. Trust that in my succeeding articles, I will tell you more stories that will evoke memories of the past as strewn in the pieces of jewelry that will surely last a lifetime.