my brain and the world: Wild animals

I am writing this blog entry while away on a weekend retreat to the Point Reyes National Seashore area of Northern California, staying in a lovely hotel in nearby Inverness. During the day, my wife and I have done a variety of activities, including hiking, driving around to explore the sights, and drinking espresso drinks in a nearby coffee bar, but the late afternoon and dusk hours have been devoted to seeing wild animals. On both nights, we have gotten into our car and taken the thirty minute or so ride to an area called the Tule Elk Preserve to see what animals we could spot.
Seeing animals in the wild is a special treat to me, a feeling similar to the one that I get when I'm walking on the beach and find a unique piece of beach glass; it gives me a bit of extra strength in the present and a belief in good things that may possibly come.
Growing up in New York City, having a feeling of connection to the life of animals was not apparent to me, save for some pets and cockroaches. Animals seemed to exist in a world that I didn't exist in (My ship seemed to pass theirs on a foggy night, unaware of their presence), but through the years my curiosity has grown, and my wife and I (who was also raised in a large city) have fueled each others interest in this regard. When we take vacations or weekend trips, the pursuit of seeing animals in the wild is often part of the planning process.
This weekend, after seeing so many rabbits, mice, quail and surprisingly a badger, I still feel like me and wild animals live in a kind of alternate universe, but the worlds seem to intersect on occasion, and their world seems so much fuller and real than I ever imagined it to be, no longer appearing to be something that exists only when I see it.