Sam Cook: Enjoying the twists and turns of life's journey

She was young and bright, and she asked good questions. We had a chance encounter in Canal Park the other day, but it was where the conversation went from there that left me a little wistful.

She's a year out of college with her degree, she said. She wants to write. She wants to be a journalist. She knew where I worked and began asking questions.

It's tough to be a young journalist these days. Or to be someone who is young and wants to be a journalist. Openings in this line of work don't come as often as they once did. The young woman is aware of that. She's working in a field outside of journalism at the moment, trying to figure out her path in life.

The conversation drifted to the state of journalism and to the ways a young person might find an inroad to the industry. You could see she had thought hard about this. She knows something about the landscape of news, of the media, of the way the Internet has changed everything.

Along the way, she asked a telling question: Whose work do you like to read?

That told me she isn't through learning, that she's hungry to expand her horizons. When I started to suggest a few authors and titles, she grabbed a piece of paper and began jotting down notes. Before she was finished, she was suggesting books she thought I might enjoy.

All of this in 10 minutes, standing at a store counter.

I was happy to share what I could with her, as I have with lots of students and other young people. A lot of folks helped nudge me in the right direction through the years. I figure it's my turn to give back when I can.

I walked away feeling good about our conversation. And then, I had a serious pang of sadness.

I didn't want to be on this end of the conversation -- the one with the experience, passing along a bit of what life has taught me. How did I end up here? I wanted to be 22 and trying to figure it all out again. I wanted to have all my options open. I wanted to be hungry and a little scared and full of questions.

I envied the young woman her youth, all the blank spots on the map, all the unexpected opportunities that would come her way. Who knows what doors might open for her? Who knows what paths she might choose, and which ones she might let go? Who knows where she might end up in the world, in or out of journalism?

I like my life. I'm happy with the choices I've made.

But boy, it was sweet sorting them out over the decades, trying to figure the right course, making the best of the choices I made.

I will have a few more forks in the road, I hope. There will be gambles to take, hunches to follow.

But I'll never be 22 again, with all the world at my feet.

SAM COOK is a Duluth News Tribune columnist and outdoors writer. Reach him at (218) 723-5332 or scook@duluthnews.com . Follow him on Twitter at "twitter.com/samcookoutdoors."