Kareem Rosser and Lee Lee Jones. Photograph courtesy of Kareem Rosser.
Cracking open a brand new e-book is all the time one thing of a non secular expertise for me as a lifelong bookworm. Whereas I typically gravitate towards fiction reads, there’s something particular about getting inside somebody’s mind in memoir format.
Having learn Kareem Rosser’s first e-book, Crossing the Line, again in 2021, I knew I used to be in for a deal with when his second memoir, When You’re Prepared: A Love Story, was revealed this previous February. For these unfamiliar with Kareem, he’s an distinctive human whose connection to horses got here via the game of polo and the Work To Trip program based in his residence metropolis of Philadelphia by Lezlie Hiner. Kareem has labored onerous all through his life to not solely discover a path that led him away from the medicine and violence he bore witness to as a younger man, but in addition to facilitate alternatives for others from related backgrounds. Immediately, he serves because the Government Vice President and is a board member for Work To Trip, which is present process some thrilling transformations with new infrastructure being constructed and extra to return.
Whereas When You’re Prepared brings readers up to the mark on Kareem’s background, I like to recommend studying Crossing the Line to study extra about his upbringing and the experiences that formed him into the individual he’s as we speak. On this second e-book, Kareem focuses on the idea of affection and his relationship with Lee Lee Jones. Lee Lee is a former eventer (the step-daughter of Phillip Dutton and daughter of Evie Dutton) who skilled a freak accident in 2016 that left her with a traumatic mind harm. The aftermath of the accident has been a journey in therapeutic, acceptance, and above all, the facility of affection.
This love comes via in Kareem’s writing — from the best way he describes Lee Lee and her magnetic vitality, her dazzling smile, her tenacious athleticism — to how he describes the second he knew he was “unbreakably in love” along with her. He writes of his expertise bringing Lee Lee residence to fulfill his household within the Backside — the neighborhood during which he had grown up — and the way naturally she slot in together with his household. He writes of how misplaced he felt — a child from the inside metropolis, experiencing life via the eyes of a well-to-do white household that had issues equivalent to debutante balls on their social calendar — however how welcomed, included, and secure he was made to really feel not solely by Lee Lee herself but in addition by her household.
Kareem competes within the Philadelphia Polo Basic. Photograph courtesy of Kareem Rosser.
As Kareem sat all the way down to put pen to paper to inform the story of Lee Lee and the love between them, Kareem knew that vulnerability can be the important thing to telling the story authentically. ““I spotted that if I used to be going to jot down any form of memoir, I needed to be susceptible, or I don’t assume it was price writing,” he informed me. “The essential piece right here is displaying that facet of me that most individuals are inclined to by no means actually expose.”
Kareem expressed gratitude to spending time in remedy to assist him navigate not solely Lee Lee’s accident, however the deep melancholy he felt after as he navigated this new life along with her. “Love isn’t static. It evolves,” he stated. “When Lee Lee’s accident occurred, it wasn’t like we have been married, however I had envisioned a future collectively. After which I had to determine — how do I proceed loving her whereas additionally shifting ahead? That was the toughest factor to just accept. One of many greatest issues for me was really discovering the vocabulary to grasp what I used to be going via. Once you’re in a deep melancholy, you don’t all the time have the phrases for what’s mistaken, and that may be the toughest half. Remedy helped me make sense of all of it.”
Photograph courtesy of Kareem Rosser.
Above all, Kareem insists that not permitting one’s trauma to outline you — but in addition being susceptible sufficient to specific problem or if you’re struggling — is a key to navigating tough and traumatic conditions. “Moderately than letting trauma divide you, use it as a possibility to return collectively,” he elaborated. “My household, regardless of all our struggles, has all the time stayed collectively, and that’s what has gotten me via the darkest occasions.”
And that love amongst household rings true in each of Kareem’s books. His writing paints an image of affection in lots of shapes and types, of the energy of household bonds, and the way collectively we are able to all assist one another heal. All through his journey with Lee Lee, Kareem struck up a deep friendship along with her mom, Evie Dutton, that is still sturdy to this present day. He writes usually in When You’re Prepared concerning the lengthy conversations on the hood of his automobile after a go to with Lee Lee, and it was Evie who finally inspired Kareem to start relationship, assuring him that his love for Lee Lee would by no means diminish, even when he selected to maneuver on in some methods. I gained’t spoil it for many who haven’t learn it but, however this a part of the e-book made me cry the toughest.
It’s the sense of acceptance that, I imagine, provides love its energy. We settle for those that we love the place they’re. This goes for our horses, our family members, our members of the family. This sense of affection and acceptance permeates When You’re Prepared, and I actually hope you’ll choose up a replica (and a field of tissues) and carry some items of it with you as you go.
To study extra about Kareem and to order a replica of his books, click on right here. You may as well hearken to a particular interview with Kareem in a Mini episode of The Go Eventing Podcast right here, above, or in your favourite podcast platform.
