Rephrase the title:I flew next to a family while having a mild cold. They taught me to appreciate what parents do for their kids.

• As a childless person, I’ve said families should be in a separate area of a plane.
• When I had to fly with a cold next to a family with a baby, I learned how much parents do.

A downside to traveling alone is being squeezed between random people during transit, but I was thankful that had never happened with kids. I’m not the first childless person to believe there should be a separation between happy individuals and burdened families.

Then one day I sat next to a sick person. She wouldn’t stop wheezing and coughing, and I cursed the day she was born because she hadn’t canceled her flight. It was post-COVID, so airlines were no longer required to feign concern for the health of their passengers.

I realized I could handle a crying toddler better than someone sneezing on me, which might sound callous, but try sitting for hours simmering in a stranger’s germs.

Ironically, when it was my turn to feel like patient zero on a plane, I unexpectedly found support from two parents with a baby.

I felt embarrassed boarding while sick

The night before my flight, I was blowing my nose as if I could exorcise my cold with tissues. A COVID-19 test was negative, but I didn’t think anyone would assume I’d taken one — I’d never given anyone the benefit of the doubt.

Boarding my flight the next day, I felt embarrassed. I wasn’t about to spend hundreds of dollars booking a hotel and a new flight because of shame and mild sickness, but I still felt guilty.

My seat was next to a couple, with a father holding a baby who couldn’t have been more than 2. “Oh, great,” I thought, forgetting I wasn’t an ideal passenger to sit next to either. But as fate would have it, they were the ideal passengers for me.

I sat in the window seat and glanced at the baby smiling on his father’s lap in the aisle seat. I would’ve joked that there was only one body between me and vomit, but the toddler could’ve said the same about my cough if he’d been old enough to return the judgment. I didn’t know how much longer I could suppress my symptoms.

The parents were so helpful

Once we were in the air, I discreetly coughed into my elbows. Neither parent glanced over in disgust.

My nose was runny, but I’d forgotten to bring tissues. The baby had fallen fast asleep on the guy’s lap, so I realized I was trapped with my mucus. I found the courage to whisper my dilemma to the mom, who handed me several tissues.

She also assured me it was OK to use the bathroom if I needed. The dad looked like a statue, and I could tell how unrelaxed he was to keep the baby from waking up. Even if I’d needed to use the bathroom, I would’ve held it for as long as possible.

Parents do so much, especially on planes

He didn’t budge the entire flight. It made me appreciate how much pressure parents feel to keep their children from disturbing other passengers. Sure, some do a better job of keeping their kids under control than others, but it wouldn’t hurt us childless folks to be more understanding of parents’ plight.

I ordered two bottles of wine to help cope with my cold, but since I was using my laptop, I had no room for the empty bottles. Before I could put them in the seat-back pocket, the mom grabbed them from my hand and passed them to the dad, who used his free arm to hand them to the flight attendant. No dialogue was needed.

They seemed attuned to my needs without trying because I was next to them. The mom correctly guessed when I ran out of tissues and offered me more.

Though I still tried to refrain from coughing and blowing my nose as much as possible, these parents made me feel less mortified. The baby didn’t cry once on the plane, but I resolved that if I ever met one who did on a future flight, I’d smile at the parents and offer them a round of drinks, even if it’s apple juice.