A Touch of Life

About the Book

I had always thought of writing a book since I came to the United States. I always had 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 lives 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 could not decide which one would be on top of the list. I prayed and offered my prayer to the Divine Providence that the first thought that would come to my mind would 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 is, in a way, 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. We were infiltrated everywhere 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 scarce. 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 knew our creator would 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 would have 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 is never permanent, never a reason for unhappiness, and is never a hindrance to success. Poverty is only a way to taste the real meaning of life. Yet some will say that God is putting us through trials when we experience 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. I remembering some thought 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 have ever moved forward to a much better life? I don’t think so. For more information, please visit http://www.frankadelarosabook.com/

About the Author

A Touch of Life is the first book written by Frank A. De La Rosa. He started his elementary education in a war-torn town of Panganiban in the most remote province of Catanduanes, which was also called the island of the “howling winds” of the Pacific, being located in the typhoon belt. His education was delayed because the Japanese invaded the Philippines during the World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941. In spite of his poverty-stricken town, his parents insisted him to attend school, and he completed his elementary education in 1952 where he graduated with honors. He attended high school in the same town with a curriculum in Agriculture and Fishery. He graduated high school in 1958, at the top of the class. As a class valedictorian, he was offered full scholarship at the Araneta University in Rizal, Philippines and completed his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1963, with honors. In 1963, he was admitted at the University of California to further his studies in Agricultural Engineering. In 1967, he was also awarded a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Heald Institute of Technology in San Francisco, California. All through the years he worked for a major engineering construction company in New Jersey. Presently, Frank is retired with his wife, Mary Grace Garcia (CPA) in Florida and doing volunteer work at his church and the Knights of Columbus. Frank also enjoys gardening during his free time aside from doing workouts at the gym to stay physically fit. He has four children. From the eldest to the youngest, they are: Cindy (a medical doctor), Dexter (accountant), Joy (communication arts specialist), and Francis (a professional engineer). He has three grandchildren, Nico, Aileen and Sara.