I meet the most fascinating people on airplanes. Tonight, a lady and her young son from Beijing going to visit friends for the first time in America. She held a paperback that was in Chinese and he played a video game on an ipad. She smiled at me and in fairly clear English told me where they were from and asked if she needed to pay for the water they were served. I told her it was free.

I asked her how long the trip was and she said they had traveled for 2 days. She asked if we had to wear masks like they do in China to be able to breathe and I said it was pretty clear so not to worry.

She told me she couldn’t wait to stand outside at night and see the stars as she hadn’t seen them in years. There was a mother in front of us with two small children and she smiled as she watched them and then held her son’s hand up to her cheek and told me quietly, “we are only allowed one.”

I told her Id love to see China one day and she laughed. She said “it is very beautiful, and very ugly, and very sad. You shouldn’t go, but look at pictures. You have the sky here, and that is enough.”

Indeed, it may be.