{"id":4191,"date":"2016-06-04T18:49:11","date_gmt":"2016-06-04T22:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=4191"},"modified":"2016-06-04T19:14:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-04T23:14:38","slug":"rip-mohammed-ali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=4191","title":{"rendered":"RIP Muhammad Ali…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_8272\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today we remember this man as the world’s greatest boxer. \u00a0He is know for so much inside the rink and yet just as importantly outside.<\/p>\n

At the age of 18, I was a recipient of his kindness. \u00a0This story is kind of legendary in our home as it was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life. \u00a0I had just left for university in Michigan, in Berrien Springs and my parents had come with my youngest brother and surprised me for the weekend. \u00a0I believe it was my 18th birthday weekend.<\/p>\n

We had one stop light in the town. \u00a0No fast foods like McD, Taco Bell or Wendy’s. \u00a0It was a quiet town, my university being the main attraction in town, unless you knew that Muhammad Ali lived there too. \u00a0On a whim, as we drove around, I asked my folks if they wanted to see where Ali lived. \u00a0I figured we’d drive past it, the gates would be closed and we could say we saw it and on we would go. \u00a0As fate or something would have it, the gates were open.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what possessed my father to, but he decided that we needed to see Muhammad Ali. \u00a0Kumar and I begged my dad to drive out. \u00a0As my dad drove to the house, there were a bunch of dogs barking at us. \u00a0I remember my dad telling us to go knock. \u00a0Neither of us would budge. \u00a0Now we were all scared of the barking dogs. \u00a0Now what? \u00a0Well, my dad did the only thing that \u00a0HE would think to do. \u00a0Did I mention it was 8ish in the morning? \u00a0My dad drove a big, Ford Econoline brown huge van and leaned into the horn and began honking. \u00a0And honking. \u00a0And honking. \u00a0I remember I dove on the ground of the van and begged my dad to stop and to please drive away.<\/p>\n

I am surprised that with the dogs barking like crazy, the horn yelling out, that the folks inside did not just dial 911 that a looney was outside. \u00a0I have to give credit to his mother-in-law who came to the door, and said so politely, “Can I help you?” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

My dad responses with no shame, “We’ve come all the way from India to see Muhammad Ali!”<\/em> \u00a0OM MY GOODNESS! \u00a0I was so mortified! \u00a0Yes, my dad has an accent. \u00a0Yet we have lived in North American for over 16 years at this point. \u00a0Did I mention his mother-in-law was so kind? \u00a0She told my dad that Ali was sleeping still but maybe he could come back. \u00a0Of course my dad, found out 10 o’clock was the time and off we went.<\/p>\n

I am not sure why she didn’t shut the gates. \u00a0Maybe she feared that the Indian in the big brown van would just honk outside the gate and she was thinking of her neighbours. \u00a0I don’t know, but sure enough, we returned at 10 am and my dad honked his arrival.<\/p>\n

I can remember the moment The Greatest came out of the house. \u00a0I remember feeling like I had to catch my breath. \u00a0Wow! \u00a0And he was so lovely! \u00a0Friendly, charming and welcoming even though we were such intruders. \u00a0He did magic tricks for us, which included levitating. \u00a0He was so gracious and gave us a tour of his compound, where he practiced, his ring and THEN invited us into his house.<\/p>\n

All the while, it was obvious that he saw our discomfort of having a crazy dad. \u00a0And yet he did not make us feel less than welcomed. \u00a0He took a few jabs (verbally, in his jokes ) at my dad, but being all he way from INDIA, my dad did not catch it.<\/p>\n

I have always thought fondly of this amazing man and how gracious he was to all of us. \u00a0This picture my dad blew up and it is leaning on the wall in the family room, waiting for a spot. \u00a0And yet, Sanj loves to tell the story to anyone that walks in and comments, with some embellishment, of course.<\/p>\n

RIP to a very kind and beautiful man. \u00a0May his family find comfort and peace as they mourn his passing. \u00a0#RIPMUHAMMADALI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we remember this man as the world’s greatest boxer. \u00a0He is know for so much inside the rink and yet just as importantly outside. At the age of 18, I was a recipient of his kindness. \u00a0This story is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1,32,140,11,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4191"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4195,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191\/revisions\/4195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}