OFFICIAL Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole

Dedicated to my sweet "baby child." 

To me, this is the most beautiful and touch rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," that I have ever heard. ENJOY WITH YOU FULL HEART!!! 

Baby Child

Oh, how I miss you, my baby child...

That beautiful boy, that brought me so much joy even in the pouring rain...

So here I sit in a lonely, quiet cafe on a very rainy day, with the joy replaced by pain...

Each heavy drop that falls, is coming straight from my heart, and collectively roaring, down this ancient street, like a river without a home...

I keep these tears, that a now bursting from deep inside of me, in a secret place where only you live in my heart...

But, it seems as if today, the tears had to be released, and have busted down the dam, that I built to keep them incased...

I cannot hide the tears today, for they are cascading down my cheeks, in front of all, for they will not hold back...

I needed to find shelter from this tormenting storm, that began in an instant, so I ran into this quaint cafe and I am now drinking a chai...

The chai, along with the rain, blasted the stones of that dam of tears and pain...

The combination, brought forth your voice to me, saying, "Mama, you sound like you are going to have a seizure. So please drink a chai before you do anything else. A chai always makes you feel better." 

And it always did, but not today. Not seeing your face, nor hearing your voice, for far too long, is bringing to my forefront, this raging storm of tears in a Bohemian style cafe in Mexico...

I hope, by the time, I find myself in Bohemian style cafe in Paris, and in the rain, that you will be there with me, my grown up, baby child, drinking a chai together, sharing joy and tears of...delight...

I love you my baby child...so much.

Love your,
Mama

Maria Joan Juarez Hidalgo Beam (Boheme)

Musical Selection: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'

For Always after the storm, follows the sunshine, the rainbow, and the dreams that come true...

The Hollies - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother (lyrics on screen & in desc...

I have been listening to some really lovely music, various songs of nostalgia for me, mainly from the seventies. I have the music playing while I am doing some things I need to do on the internet. I have not heard this song in years. I have always loved it so much.

I went to go to another tab that I had open and hit the YouTube tab, by accident, and not only listening to the song, but began watching the video. It's really moved me. It a first, reminded me of my two sons. How my eldest always, and still does, loved/love his brother so much. They have seven years in difference and my eldest just LOVED, loving and taking care of his baby brother, especially after my husband passed away, my eldest became a great role model for him, as he still remains today.

As I continued to watched, I realized the bigger picture that the video wanted to portray, and the song itself, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, which, to me in turn, really means, We are all, brothers and sisters, in this world, and therefore, to be there to help carry the load and ease the pain that life often brings, is not a burden, but is part of my humanity.

May we all feel this way about our one big HUMAN FAMILY...

With great love, 

Maria Joan Juarez Hidalgo Beam (Boheme)

Heaven was needing a Hero

I dedicate this song to my father who was hero, to many, especially, for the working class people. And, who taught me, to have great respect for this who wash the floors of big corporate, buildings, those who clean, the bath rooms, that maids that clean up after you, after your stay in hotel, and those working in the fields to put food upon your table, and for all the hard working people of this country that do the labor.



Thank you Dad, for teaching me so much





Love your daughter,



Maria Joan Beam

I Never Said Goodbye to My Father

Look at my "pops," in this picture, so young and so handsome. I loved my father so very much and he was a great role model for me, to be a fighter, a fighter for what is right and what is just, and for all human beings on this earth. He taught me that, we solely cannot focus upon our own families, even with all the problems a family may have, he taught me, you still must fight for other's who are struggling more that you are. This was the greatest lesson he taught me. 

The other, was history. My father was the smartest man that I have ever known. He went to The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma and he even ran track and field there as well as his studies, but he left when the Korean War, broke out, and joined the Navy. 

He was a self-taught man. He read encyclopedias everyday. From A-Z, and when the next year's volumes came out, he'd start right all over again. He knew so much about history and he would share it with me, and not that history we "learned," in school, he taught me REAL history. True history, for at that times, the encyclopedias did mostly write about the true history of everything.

I went to the library nearly everyday and I checked out really big, fat books about history, and a lot at one time. The librarians knew me well, so they always let me check out more than the limit and let me go to the older young readers section, before I reached that age. I read about everything, history, religion, archeology, astronomy, whatever I could get my hands on.

The first book that I bought for myself with my self-earned money, was, by H.G. Wells, "A Short History of the World." It was a big, fat blue,  hard covered book, and I read it from beginning to end. I think I was about ten years old when I bought it and I was so proud! After that, I started to build my own personal library.

My father, besides being, a veteran of the Korean War,( because of his experience of war, he taught me peace, that war solves nothing and only kills) and as Union Labor Leader his work took him to many states and in the summer, he would take us, his children with him. One year, we traveled to Toronto, Canada. We often went in the summer to see his family in Oklahoma. During these travels, he took us to as many National Parks as he could. He loved to travel, even up to about six months before his death. He taught me to love travel, and travel I do.

As a Union Leader for 60 years of his life, Unions kept health care alive, Union Members, had some of the best heath care coverage. And, also, because Unions fought for the rights of workers, it affected the entire country, big corporations and small business, that were non-union, the majority, at that time, also had good health care coverage. We can thank Unions for this and people like my father. Whether what one thinks of Unions, be grateful, well, at least during the times, before the 80's (I added this part because I just watched a movie, true story, John Q, and how today's health system works, based on money and greed) and I plan to write a piece on this after I post this one.

Robert Terrance Beam, was also a very creative man, when it came to construction. He designed a Spanish Style, Winchester type Mystery House, https://winchestermysteryhouse.com  in the middle of no where, well at that time, Coppperopolis, CA, and every weekend, for over the course, of ten years I would go with him, to help with the construction. He was a genius. He was always adding on to that house, and it had six entrances, for a two story house. My father loved adding on more entrances! 

He was always tinkering, especially after his semi- Retirement. He taught my sons so much about construction and how to be so creative, and determined. This was so helpful for me, for after their father passed away when they were young, my father was a great role model for them.

I believe that he was in his sixties when he had a stroke, did that stop my father from continuous and endless projects, no. Eventually, due to the stroke he had his right arm amputated. Did this stop him from his tinkering and projects...absolutely not! He even became more creative. With the right arm gone, he began to adapt his tools, work benches, and the such, so that he could still construct. It was incredible. There was nothing that my father could not invent so that he could do a project for the house.

Even as he got into his late 70's and his COPD, (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) and his frequent boughts, of serious pneumonia, put him into the hospital several times per month, this still did not keep my father down. No matter how hard we tried to get him to rest, we could always find him in his big workshop, "up to something."

My mother died before my father did, and between my sons, a beautiful cousin and her husband Uncle Bob, we took care of her and my father. But, after my father died, I was unable to continue to care for him due to my epilepsy and so my brother took over until his death. He died in St. Francis Convalescent Hospital in Oakland, California.

It was not my father wish, nor mine, for him to die in a nursing home, but he did. I was not able to visit him when he was living with my brother, nor at the convalescent hospital. I was too ill myself. I had bought him a cell phone so that we could talk everyday, but it "somehow," got lost. 

I was always at his side, every time he was in the hospital. Yet, before his death, I was not by his side, and I never was able to say, "goodbye," to my father, and give him a sweet kiss on his forehead, like I always did every night. This still makes me so very sad. I wasn't even able to attend his funeral, nor my sons, for several reasons, which I choose not to write about. This broke my heart and it broke their hearts as well. Why families fight over money and property after parents have died is so far beyond my comprehension. I hope that your family never does.

I may have not been able to have said "goodbye," to my father, but he is imprinted in my mind with these memories and within my heart with his love.

I love and I miss you "pops." Thank you for teaching me everything that you did...

Love always,

Your only daughter, Maria

Musical Selection: "Heaven was Needing a Hero"