Ever since I was a little kid mountain lions have been one of my very favorite animals. One of my lifelong goals has always been to meet up with a mountain lion in the wild. It hasn’t happened yet but there is still plenty of time.

I’ve seen mountain lions in zoos and I once came within a few feet of one at a certain wildlife park but that isn’t the same as meeting up with one in the wild. I want to look into the eyes of a wild mountain lion and connect with its soul. If the mountain lion decides to have me for lunch then so be it. At least I will have first been able to look into its eyes and touch its soul. If I could do that then I would happily agree to become puma chow.

Any chance of actually meeting up with a mountain lion in the wild would be greatly enhanced were I to move to a place where mountain lions actually live. But mountain lions are famous for their wandering. A few years ago a mountain lion left its home in the Black Hills of South Dakota and journeyed all the way to Connecticut where it was killed by a car as it tried to cross an interstate highway. That sort of bold adventure is one of the things I love about mountain lions.

If I could be any animal I would choose to be a mountain lion. I have fantasized about it all my life.

In the 3+ years I’ve been here on Medium I have never once revealed my true chronological age. I like to keep some mystery about myself. Besides, age does not really matter and is only a state of mind. I constantly use the phrase, A hundred years ago, and when anyone sees that I hope they realize that I am just being silly. I am not nearly over a hundred years old. I am actually rather young (all things being relative).

I will, however, admit that I am older than you, Ann Litts . How much is profoundly irrelevant. This, of course, takes me out of contention for being a potential love playmate but that is okay. I have no need nor desire for romantic playmates. I just want to meet a mountain lion in the wild. Ann, I cannot look into your eyes but I can sense your soul and you are one of the closest things to a wild mountain lion that I have ever come across.