Mekare Bowen, who turns 24 today, is a special human being. (Photo courtesy Dea Bowen)
In a world of grey, she is the sunshine.
Not just a ray, but the whole sizzlin’ ball, lighting up the universe with her every action and word.
I’ve known Mekare Alora Bowen since she was born — which would be 24 years ago today — as her mom, Dea, worked with me at Videoville and Miriam’s Espresso back in the day.
From the moment Mekare popped into the world, (politely) bellowing “Let’s get this party started!!,” she has amazed me.
She is incredibly smart, not just in a “do well at school” sort of way, but where you look at her in awe, and wonder not whether she will accomplish something, but just how much she’ll accomplish.
Mekare wrote a 550-page fantasy novel, Flying Fast: Untouchable, during her teen years.
If a computer crash hadn’t eaten her work, it’s likely no one would be paying any attention to J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer right now.
Her passion for writing was captured in this quote, when she agreed to let me write about her after much tut-tutting that there were others who should be featured ahead of her.
“I have a new idea every day. I’ve had a lot lately, but I typically forget them and then they come back to me randomly,” Mekare said back in 2012.
“I love those moments actually, because it’s like somebody punched you in the face with flowers wrapped around their knuckles.
“It’s a bittersweet moment because half of you is ecstatic to have the idea back, the other half is mad that you forgot it in the first place, and the idea typically hits you again at the most inconvenient time.
“Actually, if someone were to punch me, I’d probably punch them back — without the flowers. But I think you get the picture.”
While some would spend years wailing over their tech misfortune, our Hemingway just jumped right back in, continuing to write, while also developing a subtle touch with the camera.
As younger sister Aria also grew up, she could often be found on the other end of Mekare’s lens.
A photo from a few years back, capturing sister Aria at play. (Mekare Bowen photo)
The same was true for family and friends, every animal she could find, and a thousand other subjects, animate or inanimate.
Whatever the world wanted to show, Mekare was there to capture and immortalize.
A boat slices through the sun-dappled water. (Mekare Bowen photo)
Anyone can click a camera and call themselves a photographer.
But it takes a special skill to make those images come alive, and Mekare and her equipment work in often uncanny union.
When she hit high school, moving from private to public, Miss Bowen wanted a new challenge, and so she jumped head-first into cheerleading, joining legendary 20-year coach Sylvia Arnold’s final squad.
Sylvia Arnold with Mekare Bowen. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Mekare was an immediate hit with the sideline crew, joining close friends like Julia Felici and forming a vibrant, loud ‘n proud team.
Julia Felici and her nephew Drake join Mekare to celebrate a Coupeville win. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
Whether traveling to other countries to help those in need, picking up a new sport and embracing every aspect of it, or being quietly awesome without ever tooting her own horn, Miss Bowen has impressed me her whole life.
I’m sure, like all of us, she has her faults. But, if so, I have yet to see one.
There have been other Wolf athletes who have shown great skill and great kindness, finding a balance which is rare.
Breeanna Messner, Aaron Trumbull, Makana Stone, Hunter Smith, and Valen Trujillo immediately jump to mind.
But I put Mekare up on the top of this mountain peak.
She is, quite simply, the best of what Coupeville, and this world, have to offer.
Her continued success and high achievement in life, as she navigates the adult world, is a source of great happiness for me. And, I’m sure, for a lot of others.
In the grand scheme of things, induction into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame probably isn’t on the same level as say, winning a Nobel Peace Prize or a Pulitzer.
Both of which could easily be in Mekare’s future. Just sayin’.
But it’s what I have to offer, and so we celebrate her birthday — which should probably be a national holiday — by welcoming her into our lil’ digital shrine.
After this, if you cruise by the top of the blog and look under the Legends tab, you’ll find Mekare hanging out, along with those other five former CHS athletes I mentioned just a second ago.
It’ll say cheer next to her name, since it’s a sports hall, but we’ll all know she earned her induction for a lot more than that.
For her talent, for her grace, for her kindness, for her care to all around her, and for being, each day and every day, the kind of person I would like to be if I ever grow up.
You’re the best, Mekare. Thank you.
Hangin’ out with mom Dea. (Beth Kuchynka photo)
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