There can be magic in the touch of a hand that loves you. It brings comfort and a silent promise that says, “I am here and you are not alone.”

When my children were born, I memorized every detail about them: the skin that felt so, soft, the lips that looked like a pink flower, and the eyes that looked deep into my soul. And, of course, their hands.

As babies, they reached for me whenever they were hungry or tired or just needed to be held. Sometimes, if they woke in the night, just the touch of my hand would case them back to sleep. They clung (抓住) to me when they took their first ’steps and we held hands when crossing streets and walking from the car to their classroom on their first day of school.

My hands picked them up when they fell, and clapped louder than anybody else at their sports games and plays. Their hands waved at me from the window of a school bus, the stage of an auditorium (观众席), and from the bottom of a pool.

As they grew older and more independent, I noticed that they didn’t hold my hand much anymore. I told myself it was part of growing up, and I should just be glad they could do things on their own now. But when you’ve been needed so much for such a long time, it’s hard to step back and feel unnecessary.

Then one day. I was visiting my oldest son in New York, where he was working as an actor on a TV show. As we were about lo cross a busy street that was filed with traffic, he grabbed my hand and shouted, “Hang on 10 me, Mom,” then led me safely across.

At that moment, I realized two things. First, my boy had become mature. Second, it was clear that our roles had changed. We still needed each other but in much more different ways than before.

That scene has replayed in various ways with each of my three children. They have all taught me to lean on them just as they once leaned on me, and that we can always lean on each other. We live miles apart, but stay in touch every day, There is magic and comfort and healing in the touch of a hand that loves you, even if it “touches” you from afar.

Seventy-year-old Tububatu and his wife live in a village on the edge of Badain Jaran, China’s third-largest desert. Since their retirement, they’ve been spending every day fighting the advancement of the desert with the help of plant-life. Others had tried fighting the desert and failed, but they just wanted to know if they could make a difference.

Relying only on their pensions, the retired couple have been slowly and steadily growing their little desert forest. They started out by planting just 50 trees, but kept doubling their efforts to the point where they now plant thousands of trees a year. Even though they mostly plant drought-resistant species, they still water them at least once a day to make sure they grow better. Their small desert forest now covers over 266 hectares and numbers tens of thousands of trees.

The couple stay behind in their village, nearly 100 kilometers away from the nearest town, despite their children’s efforts to get them to move with them to a more comfortable home. They’ve been ridiculed by members of their own community who believed their efforts to fight the desert were sure to fail, but they haven’t let that prevent them making their efforts. They may very well fail, but at least they’ve given it their all.

Over the last 19 years, the couple have planted over 266 hectares of desert and have no plan of stopping anytime soon. China Daily reports that Tububatu and his wife have so far planted over 70, 000 trees and spent more than 1 million yuan of their savings in the process. The bad conditions have caused a lot of damage to their health, they look older than their age, and they both have been battling serious health conditions, but they refuse to abandon their battle against the desert.