The Rough Side of the Mountain

By Olajuwon Sol

Tell a friend to tell a friend about this awesome book. It was edited by the best of the best and written by a young God-fearing man. It is with great honor that I present to you The Rough Side of the Mountain. Will there be a part 2? Stay tuned to find out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885403214

Book preview

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The Rough Side of the Mountain

Olajuwon Sol

ISBN 979-8-88540-320-7 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88540-321-4 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Olajuwon Sol

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

1

The Beginning

2

High School Sweetheart

3

Downhill

4

I Knew It

5

Betrayal

6

Guilt

7

Too Good to Be True

8

What Did I Get Myself Into?

9

My Worst Nightmare

10

Damn

11

Faith

12

Selflessness

13

Suicidal

14

Considerate

15

God's Work

16

New Opportunity

Final Chapter

About the Author

1

The Beginning

Growing up was really hard for us. Our parents weren't blessed enough to buy us everything we needed. If life was a fruit, then it would've been a lemon for us. Mom tried so hard, but she couldn't do it all on her own. Even though we were on the rough side of the mountain, I wouldn't have changed it for nothing.

We were born and raised in Lumpkin, Georgia, where we lived in a single wide three-bedroom trailer. We were a family of four. It was my mom, James, Shaquira, and then me. James was my stepfather, but I considered him as a father since he helped raise me. Shaquira was my oldest sister. Then you have little old me, and I would like to introduce you to The Rough Side of the Mountain.

Life came at us fast but not in a good way. The main one to blame would be James. His priorities were never right. He is 90 percent of the reason we struggled. He would lay out of work almost every night. Nothing would be wrong with him. He just didn't want to go. That made us struggle even more.

James had recently got another job because he was fired, then lost that one. When my sister and I heard the news, we just gave each other a look of disbelief. We already knew we weren't getting anything new for school. We then started to look in each other's old clothes for stuff we hadn't worn. School was next week, so we knew that we had to at least try to put together an outfit.

Mom couldn't buy us anything new because she had to pay for all the food and bills. We could see the sorrow in her eyes as she scraped up enough for one outfit and one pair of shoes for us. I didn't care what kind of shoes I got, long as I had a new pair for the school year. The school year started, and just like the other years, we barely had anything new. We always had to watch the other kids have the newest clothes and shoes.

Sometimes I didn't want to go home because it was always arguing and fussing. He always wanted things his way and didn't allow us to play sports. Every time the tax money came, he would buy another car. Then instead of fixing up the house, he would spend all his money on trying to make other people happy, forcing Mom to spend the money she saved up to keep the lights on.

We dreaded going over to his mother's house because once he got drunk he'd change, change in a bad way. He'd wait until we got home, then get aggressive. He never put his hands on us, but he'd act like he wanted to. It was almost as if he wanted us to fear him. As I grew older, it only got worse.

Mom also had to provide for us even on field trips. He would never have any money to give us, so Mom had to give what she could. We had to watch other kids buy what they wanted, while we only had money to eat. Year after year, it was the same cycle. Nothing seemed to change. It was as if this would be the rest of our lives. Mom wasn't happy with the relationship anymore, and we all knew.

One day when it was about to rain, James told Mom to park her car on the side of the house. He told her that he didn't want the tree to fall on it. It started to rain, and we had to put buckets under the ceiling to catch the water. Boom made a loud noise, as the weather was stronger than we expected. Finally, it had blown over, so we went out to see what the noise was. As we stepped outside and looked to the left, Mom screamed. There laid her car smashed under the huge pine tree.

James tried to come out and explain, but Mom didn't want to hear it.

Don't talk to me, yelled Mom.

I thought it would fall the other way, James tried to explain.

Mom then went inside to call the insurance people but only to receive bad news. Her car wasn't insured for natural disasters. Mom then fell to her knees and started to cry. It was one of the saddest things I ever witnessed.

That month was pure hell. Mom stayed mad every day, and now, we only had one vehicle. James started again laying out of work and ended up losing his job again. We struggled very hard this time. We could barely afford food, so we ate turkey for three days. This life, by far, was not for the weak. I still remember laying down looking at the ceiling, wondering, Why us?

2