You never know who’s going to be seated next to you on a plane.

If you haven’t read the viral blog posting from last week, “Dear Daddy in 16C….” take the time. A lovely tale of the kindness of one plane passenger toward another.

While many of my travel experiences have involved horrid individuals (albeit who make for great blog postings), not all have been memorable for the wrong reasons. For instance, the terrific couple I met on a recent-ish flight.

Tom and Anita were my seat mates on a late night Westjet flight between Calgary and Vancouver in October 2013.

They were immediately friendly, chatty, likeable and SANE. They worried their little dog, a sweet Jack Russell puppy zipped inside a pet carrier under the seat in front, would act up and bother other passengers. (He was an angel. Not a peep, whimper or bark).

Despite all that seemed positive and upbeat about them, turns out theirs wasn’t to be a happy return to their hometown. They were travelling from their new home in Saskatchewan to visit Tom’s dying father. A 54 year old melanoma victim whose cancer was spreading rapidly.

This wasn’t the only blow this family was enduring. They had lost a child earlier in the year.

I used to be a news reporter. I’ve seen and heard a lot. That’s why it didn’t seem strange they’d share some of their life story with me, a stranger on an airplane.

I’ve thought about Tom and Anita quite a few times since then. A fond memory of genuinely nice people on an airplane. I hope there are many more in my flying future.

The “Daddy” story gives me hope.