An adventure in the planning

Melissa Ann Howell Schier
4 min readJul 30, 2024

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July 29

The sky was dark at nine fifty pm. Filly had come in only an hour earlier. She had stayed out in the front yard, pulling weeds, her least favorite thing ever to do, especially in the humidity. By the time she finished the front yard, her whole body was dripping with sweat. She left the pulled weeds laying uprooted in the grass. She put away the tools she had used to help dig and clip the weeds but she was too tired to tackle the back yard.

She had swept out the outdoor bathroom and taken all the cushions out, that were stored in there when it rained, and put them back on the chairs since the rain had finally stopped after a solid week of pouring. But Filly loved the rain and the cool changes it had brought.

The umbrellas were now up again to shield from the sun and the plants were now back out of the shade so Filly had put miracle grow on all the plants. That was her favorite trick for having beautiful plants. Every other week, Miracle grow. Filly even liked the name. Who would not want miracles to grow. And watching the tremendous growth in plants that previously had stagnated, was amazing to watch. Likewise in the world, watching the increasing numbers of people who were interested in doing good and paying attention to TRUTH, was also a miracle unfolding

By the time she finished she had used up one whole package of miracle Grow but gratefully the box had four separate packages. One package was enough for all her plants. She put a few tablespoons in the watering can and added water, until all the Miracle Grow had been dispersed. Until the next time she “fed” them.

She had spent two hours driving, earlier in the day, on a trip that should have only taken forty five minutes. There had been a wreck near the freeway and the traffic was at a standstill so she had decided to take the “road less traveled”. Unfortunately she had forgotten her phone and could not find the compass on her car so she ended up going the opposite direction from where she needed to go. It was a time consuming mistake but it was in the hottest part of the day, when she would not have been working outside anyway. She was grateful to see parts of the world where she normally did not go.
The center island in the middle of the six lanes, where she was driving, was still full of water, from the rains that looked like a small lake, Filly noticed as she drove by. The water glistened and sparkled. New businesses were thriving and her car was cool and efficient and the drive was pleasant.

When she got home, she had parked, and turned off the AC in the car and walked back into the kitchen where she had fixed a big salad with turkey, lettuce, Parmesan cheese and avocado. She had a piece of raisin toast to go with it.

She noticed some pictures her daughter had sent and they were of girls riding horses, doing trick riding, kneeling on the saddle. Filly, thought of her name, and how she sometimes actually felt like a horse sometimes… felt like the nickname she had was quite accurate…because she was so tired by the end of the day she felt like she was asleep on her feet, the way horses sleep standing up.

But trick riding? Perhaps. Each person, “carries” riders. And maybe not many trick riders. She was supposedly a very small horse, standing on a very big chair. Like the horse in front of the Denver Museum of Art. But she thought of herself as substantial…and it did not have to do with size. The one with truth is a majority, sort of substantial. Standing on that foundation was not tricky, if a person knew their “horse”. That was what Filly thought, after re-thinking her analogy.

She had read an story about how some famous actor had compared Marilyn Monroe to a racehorse… as being very capable and very good. She agreed that some comparisons to animals were flattering and the person being compared to an animal should not take offense. So Filly playfully accepted her nickname.

Filly did some Yoga for the first time in weeks, and felt stiff and tight. The workouts were helping her feel stronger, but her muscles were less flexible than every. Yoga was going to have to be a priority. Horse yoga “y’all”… Hip flexibility? lol.

Then soberly, Filly remembered her bible verse, which had talked about how God was going to leave the cities of the evil people desolate. She thought about how California was suddenly getting rid of its homeless encampments. The people in charge were scared. Filly hoped it was not too late for them. But the actions leadership had done to hurt citizens in big cities, and in the USA as a country, were terrible and bad decisions had negative consequences for the perpetrators.

Filly was going to sleep. Peaceful restful sleep. And tomorrow she was going to pack. She was driving to California. She would stop at interesting places and she would take her time. An adventure. In the planning.

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Melissa Ann Howell Schier

HoustonWorkout on YouTube, mom of five, journalist and artist and conservative who values life.