{"id":110426,"date":"2024-01-20T10:37:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T16:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/?p=110426"},"modified":"2024-01-20T13:11:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T19:11:15","slug":"dust-to-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/dust-to-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"Dust to Dust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dust to Dust<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By James Blears<\/em><\/p>\n

I may be wrong, but it\u2019s always seems\u00a0to me that so many people die in January?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In his epic poem\u00a0The Wasteland TS Eliot wrote: \u201cJanuary is the cruelest month<\/em>.\u201d Certainly some of the chilliest days dawn after the longest nights at this time of year.\u00a0J M Barrie wrote in Peter Pan that the souls of lost children took a glimpse at this world and decided it was not for them.\u00a0None of us can chose the day or the month in which we are born or when we pass away,\u00a0leaving this world to its own devices.\u00a0We don\u2019t know exactly which day we will die and perhaps it\u2019s for the best?<\/p>\n

Part of the task of a boxing scribe involves writing obituaries.\u00a0It\u2019s always a fraught task because how on earth can you sum up the life of a man, woman or deceased child in words, few or many?<\/p>\n

All this has come to the forefront and particularly hit home with two particular events. The tenth anniversary of the passing of the Great Don Jose Sulaiman. The service at the Basilica of Guadalupe was packed with the Boxing Family who loved, adored and respected him so very much. The solemnity,\u00a0the everlasting memories which draw people close together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then just one day later, a phone call from former neighbors and friends Carlos and Lucy to tell us that his father Don Adrian had died.\u00a0The funeral\u00a0was in Tequisquiapan some distance away from Mexico City. But miles\/kilometers are irrelevant in such circumstances. Being there is the only thing which matters.<\/p>\n

We have attended many more funerals in Mexico than we ever did in England. A section of the coffin\/casket is glass and open to viewing of the departed loved one.\u00a0The deceased person is often embalmed and the features bear little resemblance to the vibrant, living person everyone so loved and cherished.\u00a0Thank goodness and thank God we have and we retain the memories intact and strong.<\/p>\n

In life Don Adrian was a jolly man with a wonderful wit and sense of humor.\u00a0His spirit lives on and what is left is the shell\u2026a husk.\u00a0He had lived a long and a very full life, but this in no way diminishes the sorrow of his parting.<\/p>\n

Only a handful of people including family and close friends attended, which for this particular occasion was fitting, apt and appropriate.<\/p>\n

People sat around and talked in low voices out of respect. The occasional smile and snatch of laughter about his foibles and what made him so much him\u2026so human and memorable.\u00a0The priceless\u00a0gift of legacy\u00a0amidst a time of mourning.\u00a0As Gavin Maxwell wrote: \u201cA Ring Of Bright Water<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The irreverent journalist instinct kicked in\u2026 oh dear! In life Don Adrian had loved a drink in the company of friends and family at a fiesta where he was the life and soul of the party. Characteristically Flor, Monica and I trudged to a nearby tiendita de esquina and bought some cans of beer to share with the mourners and toast the Old Boy. Two six packs! Our feet were covered in dust which lay as thickly as fresh fallen snow. It coated my polished buffed shoes. Dust to dust prior to ashes to ashes! Even today, after our return home, it still lingers on my shoes. I haven\u2019t yet been able to shake off that dust.<\/p>\n

The pencil slim elderly seemingly world weary Nun who conducted the Service, gingerly asked his name before starting the proceedings.\u00a0That really brought it home to me!<\/p>\n

As she was doing that final service,\u00a0cars and trucks thundered by on the nearby highway outside the funeral home.\u00a0A harsh\u00a0and stark reminder that everyday life goes on in the midst of death.\u00a0Nothing ever stops.<\/p>\n

Tears stutteringly fell as the bright flickering candles were blown out and Don Adrian inside his coffin was discreetly carried away by two burly darkly clad men. The awful finality.\u00a0Too close to home.<\/p>\n

His widow Dona\u00a0Nery was too frail and ill to attend the service. Only a week ago Adrian had sat by her bedside in hospital. Thank God she is now recovering at home in bed.\u00a0Seemingly in robust health and characteristically, he had been there for her during her hour of need, but now he himself is gone.\u00a0Fate can reserve some unexpected twists?<\/p>\n

In a matter of fact way, one woman said we would have to wait four hours for the ashes. That shook me!<\/p>\n

We traipsed to a nearby restaurant where the beer was warm, the food was almost cold and the service was interminably slow.\u00a0The humor of that would certainly not have been lost on Don Adrian.\u00a0And then as the light was fading and\u00a0as we left,\u00a0I looked up at the sky. A flock of migrating birds was winging its way southward to warmer climes in a V shape, moving from one sphere to another.\u00a0One realm of the Heavens\u00a0to another.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All of us are born and all of us die. It\u2019s what we achieve and what we accomplish in between which is so memorable and the residual, lasting love of our family, who are left behind,\u00a0as we start our final journey on the road of no return. They are there for us, after the end.\u00a0Our legacy is their love which remains like the rocks\u00a0forever.<\/p>\n

TS Eliot also wrote: \u201cIn my\u00a0beginning is my end.\u00a0What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning.\u00a0The end is where we start from.\u00a0So the darkness shall be light and the stillness dancing.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

As the great Sports writer Jimmy Cannon wrote when starting some of his most memorable articles: Nobody asked me, but:<\/p>\n

His famous tribute to all- time Great Joe Louis was: \u201cJoe Louis was a credit to his race\u2026.The Human Race!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

So are you Don Adrian.\u00a0Farewell my Friend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dust to Dust By James Blears I may be wrong, but it\u2019s always seems\u00a0to me that so many people die in January? In his epic poem\u00a0The [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":110427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-main-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}