Growing up in the cities, going to the zoo twice a year and coming back with an essay Spring (Fall) Trip to the Zoo writing about panda or monkey did not give me a pair of sharp eyes for wild animals.

The first day on the road at the trip from Anchorage to Seward, when the whole bus burst into excitement pointing to that Moose, I still managed to miss it. The last afternoon on the cruise, we were told that there were about 30 dolphins swimming with the ship around ten o'clock in the morning, my friend and I tried to remember where we were at that time, and how we managed to miss those dolphins, which remains a mystery to us.

Yet I did make an effort to get closer to the wild animals, we signed on a boat trip on Chilkat River at Haines hoping to see moose, to see bears, to see wolves, to see terns, bald eagles and even trumpeter swans ... My friend with a fancy camera was excited and ready to get some nice shots of the wild life.

The trip seemed promising at the start, a junior bald eagle without white head sit on the top of the tree seeing us off. The ride was smooth, the view was beautiful, the captain with half Indian blood was very knowledgeable. Yet, we passed the BearSlide Slope with no bear, we rode through the Disney Channel with no swan or terns, we waited patiently at the shoal with no trace of a Moose ... And the junior bald eagle still sit on top of the tree when we came back.

My friend was very disappointed, whining about our bad luck and waste of money. I shared her sentiment, and yet agreed more with the captain. They are wild animals, they are free, and it is their decision to see us or not. And this time, they just did not want to call. Bottom line, I still enjoyed the view along the ride ...

Doesn't that happen sometime in real life? We choose our journey, hope it will get us to our destiny. Along the way, we will find success, happiness and the special someone who will company us through our whole life. We put in time and effort, we work our ass off, we fight our battles ... and yet we still have to let go at some point, let fate have its final saying ... Sometimes, sometimes, unfortunately, we come back empty handed to exact where we start, and all we can do is to acknowledge our defeat graciously, accept our fate calmly, move on with our life bravely.... and never, never forget to knock on the wood wishing ourselves luckier next round ... Bottom line, we still get to enjoy the view along our journey.

Sometimes wild just doesn't call ...