At around 3:00 A.M... May 9,1998, Nicole gave birth to her second child. His name was Roland Greer Jr. Three minutes later, Nicole gave birth to a healthy baby-girl. Her name was Romona Greer. This is where my life began. At that moment.
Immediately after giving birth, Nicole's heart stopped beating. Doctor's notified family members that she slipped into a coma, Everyone was shocked. All they could do was constantly cry. Days would go by and everyone would go in a talk to her. Even the preacher of her church went in and prayed.
Eventually, the time came for the twins to go home so they had to stay with their grandma. Months went by of Nicole not being able to hear what everyone was saying and not being able to see her twins. Doctors were beginning to lose hope.
One Morning Nicole woke up! She looked around searching for her twins. Doctors reassured her that everyone was fine and healthy. She stayed in the hospital that week for observations. A mental tube was inserted through her stomach to help her blood flow without it getting too thick.
Everything went smooth from that point forward, so the next day Nicole was able to go home to her family, friends, and most importantly her twins.

Elementary school was a challenge for Romona. In first grade she was an honor roll student,but had got written up once. Second grade went well,but in third grade she was on the A & B honor roll. The only thing was that she got written up for fighting. Fourth and fifth grade there was this same steady pattern.
By sixth grade Romona had her mind set to graduate with all A's. No discipline problems. For the first time she felt like she really had a bright future. At this point in her life,everything seemed to be beginning. Then all of a sudden her mom and Charleston got a divorce. Romona knew it would lead to this from all of the arguments and issues they were having but she wasn't quite prepared for it.
It seemed like one minute she had this life she had always dreamed of then with the snap of a finger it was gone. She had to be completely strong for her mom. Plus her real birth dad Roland Greer SR was still a part of her life. He was in and out of jail for selling drugs though. He didn't even graduate high school,but he was still her dad and she still loved and cared about him more than anything.

Romanda went into her seventh grade year with her mind set to do everything right and try her complete best. Nothing was going to get in the way. Then after arriving home from school one afternoon she got some of the worst news she had ever gotten.
Her dad had went to jail for selling drugs. This time wasnt like all of the other times. It seemed surreal. Shocking. All she could do is stare at the TV screen. Everything seemed meaningless.
Later she found out that he had 75 years. Plus he had a court date set to get some years taken off. Instead of getting years taken off though....Years were added. Her dad got an additional 25 years added.
From looking at him in handcuffs and wearing an orange suit...It seemed like everything was changing. The one person that she trusted so much and confided in was being taken away right in front of her.
His year to get out was 2029. She realized that for the first time reality was starting to sink in. This was one of the hardest things for her. She thought nothing could get worse than this. Or could it????

A couple of years later a strong breathtaking tornado hit.The storm lasted about 20 minutes before the family noticed a long line of streaming silence. They rose up and looked around. Their house was no longer a house. They had half a roof still standing that looked like it could fall at any minute. The very small amount of furniture they did have looked like someone had come in and shot the place up. The part of the house where the two bedrooms were was completely gone. It was just like starting from scratch. The little money they did have couldn’t even buy them a TV. All her mom could do was fall to her knees and cry. Ramona,her brothers, and her dad fell down and cried along with her. After they had cried for a while and had no tears left, they got up and walked around the neighborhood. Some houses were still standing, some just had a tree that had fell and stuff slung around in their yards, and some like Ramona and her parent’s houses were destroyed. There were no signs of anyone. They walked around for what seemed like hours until they finally spotted a man who was dressed in a yellow suit and had a flashlight in his hand.Ramona's father asked the man, “Who are you?" The man replied, “My name is Mitchell and I am here to rescue the survivors of the storm.”Nicole and Daron introduced themselves and followed the man to a helicopter. They had never been in a helicopter before. The closest view they had ever gotten was TV. They were very fascinated and curious about what all of the buttons did. They kept asking questions about the things inside. The driver who looked like a man in his early twenties answered each question happily. Mostly because he was happy to see people who were so amazed about helicopters.

About 30 minutes later they arrived at a big building. This building was about 10 times the size of their house. They had never seen this side of town before. When they entered the building a woman came and led them up a long flight of stairs to their room. When they finally made it to the room there was a TV, two big beds, and a beautiful view. This was like living in a mansion compared to what they lived in at first. They just stayed there for a few months until they could get back on their feet.

After starting over and moving to a new house, Ramona wrote her dad for the first time. She told him that she was mad and sad. She spent most of her nights crying herself to sleep. On top of all of that... her grades were steadily falling .She knew she had to try harder, but how could she when she kept blaming herself for him going to jail. There were so many unanswered questions running through her mind. A few times she thought about giving up, but she knew she had to get her grades up and keep trying for her mom. So much had happened. Her dad being in jail,a tornado,and living in a shelter. Ramona was hurt deep down. She went to school and the only thought that ran through her head was memories of her dad. Ramona's first day of school went smoothly for her and all of her teachers were nice. After a couple of weeks at school, a girl started messing withe her. The girls name was Kately. Ramona had two classes withe her and both classes the girl would stare at her and Ramona kept hearing from her friends that she was talking about her. One day she got tired of hearing all the rumors and went up to Kately and asked her what was going on during 7th period. Kately got close to her with an attitude. Ramona pushed Kately and her fist was about 1 inch from Kately’s face when their teacher Mrs. Shelly came in and pulled Ramona back.

Ramona had to stay after school theat day anyways for her teacher Mrs. Greer to make up a chunk test. She went in and got the test and went back to Mrs. Shelly’s class to take it. It was extremely hard for her to focus on the test. She knew she had done something wrong that day and she knew the consequences would be bad. A few minutes later she found out she had A school for 3 days. She wasn’t mad about it. Eventually she finished her test. When she took the test to Mrs. Greer, she went on and told her that she had A school and then left to go home. Ramona’s mom didn’t get upset with her about it, but she didn’t have to. She knew what happened and kept hoping her teachers wouldn’t be upset about it.

After Ramona spent those days in A school, she made up her mind that she couldn’t do anything in school. She had failed herself by getting in trouble in the first place. Mrs. Greer noticed that her grades were turning around. She knew an A student couldn’t have went to a B and C that fast. She asked Ramona to stay after class a while that day. She talked to her and asked what was going on. On that day Ramona knew someone really cared other than her mom. She knew she could trust someone else. She looked her teacher in the eyes and made her a promise. She said, “I promise I will try my best from now on if you will continue to show me that you care.” Ramona knew she had to keep that promise. Somehow looking into Mrs. Greer’s eyes, she saw that inspiration she had been looking for.

After months and months of crying and wondering why all of this happened, Ramona could finally see a breakthrough. She knew that she had what it took to do more with her life. All she had to do was make up her mind that she wanted to. After a while she overcame all of her fears. She realized she had to get her grades up. She had to face the fact that through life she would have ups and downs. No one promised her anything would be easy and she didn’t expect them to. From then on she knew that she had to reach for the highest and she believed she would get there. She knew she had what it took. Ramona ended the year with all A’s. Her mom was so happy. Somehow just seeing her mom’s smile made it all worth it.From then on, she knew if she didn’t have anything else she had a mom who cared and she had the brain to get anywhere she wanted in life. All she ever needed was someone who believed in her.