Hello to my new community of Steemians! My name is Evan McDowell and I am originally from the best city in America, Grand Rapids, MI. I'm about to turn 25 and am beyond excited to join this new platform to expand my horizons and meet new people. I currently reside in Southwest Ohio with my beautiful wife Lila and my big ole' pupper Hunter, seen below. Today I want to help introduce you to me: a married, military man who loves food, video games, my wife and my job.
Quick Intro
First a little about what I do. I am currently working as an Aeronautical/Mechanical Engineer in the Air Force for their Research Labs. It is the job an Air Force Officer dreams of getting as an engineer. Real research on real problems that have a direct impact worldwide. As the Air Force sends me around every few years to completely change not only my job description, but where I perform it I feel lucky to have landed in such a fulfilling job for a few years. I'm excited for what the future holds for my family and what part of the country I'll get to see next!
But let's take a step back to see how I've gotten to this point in my almost 25 years of living.
Hometown Living
I grew up as the oldest child of three in a small suburb of Grand Rapids, MI called Hudsonville aka The Salad Bowl City. My town was a small budding suburb intermixed with a farming community, and oh boy, was it religious. If you look up the Bible Belt on Wikipedia it shows that it is most of the South and this one county in West Michigan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt
In addition to the South, there is a smaller Bible Belt in West Michigan, centered around the heavily Dutch-influenced cities of Holland and Grand Rapids. Christian colleges in that region include Calvin College, Hope College, Cornerstone University, Grace Bible College, and Kuyper College. West Michigan is generally fiscally and socially conservative.
One of the main streets in our town is in the top 5 for highest church per capita and held the Guinness Book of World Records for a short time in the category. I'm only bringing this up because this upbringing really shaped me into the person I am today. It always bothered me how uninviting my community was to anyone who wasn't like them. Even being raised catholic I wasn't allowed to go to some of my friend's houses because that was "too radical." From that I took my view of Christianity and faded out of the church to fasten my moral compass on the world to always try to be empathetic with those around me and to always fight for the underdog. Another tenant that helped me become who I am is my athletics. I have a burning passion for track and field and running as a whole. I competed in track from the age of 6 up through college at 22. As a multiple All-State honoree in both hurdles, high jump and relays in high school I was recruited by a few schools to run for them.
Years of Academy Training Wasted!
I ended up merging my love for track and engineering to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. A free education while being able to compete at a D1 Collegiate level with a guaranteed job? SIGN ME UP. Little did I know it was not quite what I thought it'd be.
It wasn't all work and no play though. I learned a lot about myself and what truly mattered to me when I was at my weakest. Teamwork was the only way to make it through and the quote that got me through was sent in a letter from my father in the first couple weeks of basic training: "The days feel like weeks and the weeks will feel like days." Essentially just grind it out and in the end it will just feel like a blink of an eye. While my schedule did not get any lighter over the next four years, I did learn to lean on my friends to get through the struggle of 5am to 1am days for 4 years straight. Track was probably the best activity to get my mind off the constant stress. i had entered college to compete in decathlon, a 2 day 10 event competition consisting of the 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m sprint, 110m high hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and a final 1500m grueling run.
It was the epitome of hard core and it was a cruel mistress. While it was the most fun I ever had it also took its toll. Multiple pulled muscles, developing bulging discs in my back, plantar fasciitis just to name a few. I was never bored as there was always something new to learn and got to compete all over the US. I met my best friend too this day through decathlon and it will always have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life.
Eventually in 2015 I managed to slug my way through the academics, military training and athletics and graduated with my B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering, one of the hardest paths to take also being an athlete.
Married Life and a Doggo
I had met Lila in high school in 2009, and I had fallen in love with her from the first couple of times talking to her and even in high school I had told her that I would marry her no questions asked. She was brilliant, confident, already an accomplished dancer, having been a member of a semi-professional dance company for 8 years and also spent a summer at Alvin Ailey in New York in high school and to top it off beautiful. She was everything I was not: patient, clean, mature, and not afraid to tell you her mind. Unfortunately, we lived across the state from each other and decided a friendship was best because we couldn't do the distance. Time passed and she attended the University of North Carolina Greensboro as a Dance and Marketing double major and me at USAFA. We both dated our freshman year and subsequently broke up with our respective SO's over the summer of 2012. When I was home for my 3 week break in the summer we hung out and it was as if no time had passed. We knew then we would be dating soon. Two months later when we got to see each other again I formally asked her out and the rest is history. One year later we were engaged, and another year and a half we were married. The distance was difficult and at times extremely frustrating, but she always found a way to come see me or I'd have to use one of my few 3-4 day opportunities a year to fly out and see her. It honestly helped strengthen our relationship into one where we don't need to see each other 24/7 and we can support each other fully while still staying separate human beings with our own interests. When we finally got married in July of 2015 (you can be married at any of the Academies so you have to wait until after graduation) the day could not have been more perfect! We said our vows and had our first kiss at the Colony Club in downtown Detroit and it was almost as stunning as Lila that day.
Our dog Hunter was born on our wedding day so we knew he was going to be a special dog to us. Because Lila is allergic to dogs, and we both loved big dogs we wanted to find a poodle mix that met both categories. We ended up choosing a newfoundland poodle cross and named him Hunter.
We knew we weren't ready for kids but this was a bit more than we expected. He wasn't the calm nature of a newfy with the obedience of a poodle that we expected. He got the hyperactivity and intelligence of the poodle and the size and hard headedness of the newfoundland. He grew up quickly and just ober 2 years later he is starting to settle down. He still demands new water in his bowl every so often (even if its full) and will bark at you incessantly to play fetch with him in the yard, but it just makes him, him. We love our little guy and wouldn't give him up for the world. Full size seen below:
Wrapping Up
If you've stuck around this long I applaud you as that was probably more than you bargained for. I hope you have gotten to know me a little bit and I'm excited to post quality content about my love for food, video games (especially Dark Souls), anime and day to day Air Force life to keep you all up to date! Thank you and I'll leave you with my favorite photos of my wife from her college graduation. Cheers!
