Far from the Cliff

A Memoir

Ray Moisa

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666755473, 9781666755480
• eBook ISBN: 9781666755497
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Ray should have died on three separate occasions when he was in the ICU. But sheer tenacity, an almost delusional belief that COVID would not kill him, and the prayers of family and friends kept Ray alive for five weeks throughout his near-fatal COVID ordeal. Ray emerged from the hospital suffused with a renewed joy for, and love of, life. He set out in his recovery to regain his former vigor and complete the memoir he had been writing for years. This memoir is more than about surviving COVID. It is the story of how one man came to realize how blessed he has been throughout his life. It is the story of an unshakeable faith in God despite the setbacks, dangers, and trauma that life brings. Far from the Cliff is one man's prayer of thanksgiving for the beauty, love, and happiness that can be ours, even as we face endless trials, an uncertain future, and our own looming mortality.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• The Plague as Transformative Force
• The Ball of Green Yarn
• In the Year of the Plague
• Long-Term Care Insurance
• What Is Lost and What Is Gained
• The Parting of the Red Sea
• Lockdown
• Dad
• Sonny and Me
• Ernie
• I’m Santa Claus
• Jo Ann
• Requiem for a Stranger
• Adolescence
• Vietnam and the Draft
• Stupid Stuff
• The Near-Fatal Collision
• My Professional Career
• The Insidious Scar Tissue of Racism
• San Francisco and Bill
• The Life of the Nomad
• Another Close Call
• Anthony Bourdain and the Art of Travel
• Near-Disaster in the High Sierra
• My Mother’s Unshakeable Faith
• The Day I Spent with Muhammad Ali
• Long COVID
• My Beautiful Big Blue House
• Epilogue
• Bibliography