UNKNOWN

I had always thought of writing a book since I came to the United States. I had always my journal with me and jotted down whatever came to my mind when I thought about it. Tomorrow comes, tomorrow goes, and nothing much had been written in my journal. As time went by, I forgot all about my journal. I was busy with life, life around the clock, that's going to work and raising children. That's what life in the United States was when you re raising a family. However, as we all knew, time flies. The children grew big. They finished college. They run their own life and have a family of their own. They have children who are my grandchildren. And life therefore was fulfilled. And life goes on . . . Now comes retirement. And time is not a problem anymore. Then my memory goes back when I had always thought of writing a book. Now I have the time. Some questions came to my mind. What shall I write? What will be the title of my book? My mind was racing with so many titles, and I cannot decide which one will be on top of the list. As I prayed and offered my prayer to the Divine Providence that the first thought that will come to my mind will be the chosen title for my book. And that is, A Touch of Life. This is how my title came to be. A Touch of Life in a way is my autobiography or you can call it a memoir. It is a collection of short stories that happened during my growing years in the most remote island of the Philippines during the wartime years in the Pacific after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and several more years after that. My young mind was able to capture and remember the atrocity of that war. War was never good at any place and at any time. Even now, I still have some nightmares during those dark days when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. Everywhere was infiltrated by Japanese, from Manila, to the provinces, and to the town and villages. My hometown was no exception. When General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines, as he promised, that was the time when we were finally liberated from the Japanese. The Japanese surrendered! All the Filipinos were thankful and overjoyed! After the war, life was a struggle. Every family had to start a new life. The kids were behind in their studies. Everything was scare. Diseases were very rampant and no medical help was yet available. Life was very hurting and difficult. However, my family never lost hope. We kept our faith strong. We know our creator will never abandon us. We knew that from a distance, God was watching his creations with "A Touch of Life" in our war-torn hometown of Panganiban. All these stories of long ago should been forgotten in memories of long ago and gone with the howling winds of time, without me sharing this book with you. This book is my legacy to my family, my children, grandchildren, and to all the people of the world that poverty was never permanent, never a reason for unhappiness, and was never a hindrance to success. Poverty was only a way to taste the real meaning of life. Yet some will say that God is putting us into trial when we experienced poverty. For me, experiencing poverty, helped me become a better person. I became more compassionate, kinder, and had empathy to strangers and other people in need. Remembering some thoughts in the past, "That God helps those who help themselves." Reflecting on what happened to me, this thought was a part of my life. What if, I didn t finish high school? What if, I didn t I didn't graduate as a valedictorian? What if, I didn t finish college? Without attaining all these, will I ever move forward for a much better life? I don't think so.