Jessie dad took her for a ride in a red, blue and yellow striped hot air balloon. It lifted from the ground and floated across the sky. Jessie saw forests of pine, birch, and oak, and saw many beautiful lakes and rivers.

Some of the lakes so blue and looked so cool and refreshing, that Jessie wanted to leap out of the balloon's basket into the water below, but she didn't. "Dad, I love it up here. I can see the whole world and it feels like we're right next to the sun, so close I could touch it."

"Don't try to do that, Jessie. The sun is ninety three million miles away from Earth. Are your arms that long?" Jessie's dad smiled at his daughter.

She giggled. "I don't think so, Dad. How about the mountain tops? Can we land on top of one? Can we go to Mount Everest?"

Her dad shook his head. "We can't do that either, Jessie. We'd never be able to breathe if we went that high. Besides that, it snows and it's windy and cold."

Jessie looked around. As she floated through the air, she saw puffy white clouds, hawks, ducks and geese. Some of them flew around the hot air balloon. "Look at the birds. I wish I could flap my wings and fly just like birds do."

"Jessie, you want so many things. You need to be happy with what you have. You've got a beautiful view and are having a ride in a hot air balloon. Not many children can do that."

Jessie thought about it. "You're right, Dad. I'm lucky to be right here. I don't really want to fly like a bird. This is much more fun." She stood in the basket and didn't say a word for a long time, but kept her eyes open and looked at all the wonderful sights below.