This George Patton Quote Fits Memorial Day 2025

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” (George S. Patton)

(Photo from St. Teresa Beach, Florida)

For all the men and women who helped make this country as great as it is today, let’s honor them and celebrate!

-Out of the Wilderness

Five-Photo Friday #5… Go Green

I’m really enjoying sharing some of my favorite photos with you through this “Five-Photo Friday” weekly theme that’s been going on for the last few weeks. It gives me a challenge and so with that in mind, today’s gallery of photos is titled all things green.

Hope you enjoy!

Which was your favorite? Comment below and while you’re here, subscribe so you get an email with each post daily at 1pm central. Thanks and I’ll see you tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

All the Graduations – Part 2

No selfies. No TikTok. No phones at all. Of course, my high school graduation was nearly 30 years ago so none of those things were even possible or invented yet. I don’t even think there’s a video of the event anywhere in existence, at least not that I know of. Comparing that to the graduation last Saturday that probably has dozens, if not hundreds, of videos of the students walking across the stage and there are probably a few on YouTube as we speak! The only thing I remember from my graduation is something I did that’s right in line with my Enneagram 4 personality, though I didn’t know that at the time. I wanted to stand out… but at the same time I don’t love attention. So affixing “Hi Mom!” on the top of my graduation cap was an expression of my individuality and a way to show my mom I love her, of course.

At my niece’s graduation there wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary in how the kids expressed themselves apart from little gestures they did as the crossed the stage, knowing they were on the big screen for everyone to see. Also, and this was very cool, students weren’t allowed to have their phones. So just like my graduation in 1997, there were no selfies and no TikTok. Kudos to whoever made that decision for the students. Instead of the distraction that phones can cause, students got to be fully present at their own graduation. If they don’t already, they’ll appreciate this as time goes by. They’ll actually have memories of the moment, go figure! Of course, the only memory I have is the “Hi Mom!” cap so maybe it would’ve been good to have some kind of documentation of it… besides still having it stored in a bin in the shed outside.

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-Out of the Wilderness

All the Graduations

It was a whirlwind weekend when I was in Orlando for a graduation featuring 599 people plus one amazing person– my niece. Six hundred in total walked across the stage then celebrated as streamers cascaded down from the roof. In fact, this was the crescendo of a busy weekend celebrating this particular niece starting with a grad party two days before. There’s definitely more to say than I’ll include in this post but here’s a quick look at the class of 2025.

I thought about my graduation. Or how I recorded everything but my brother walking across the stage at his college graduation. People do flips. Dab. Wave. Look lost. Many different reactions to that moment they stepped up to shake the principal’s hand in front of thousands of people. I also wondered if I’d go back to high school. You know the question people always ask, would you go back if you could? Knowing what I know now, I still don’t think I would. Sure, there are things, probably LOTS of things I’d change if I did go back, but aren’t I exactly where I’m supposed to be now? So what’s the point in going back? How about you, would you go back and if so, what’s one thing you’d change?

-Out of the Wilderness

Song Titles That Are Just Numbers

Hey there! Clearly you stopped by to check out a new list (I love lists) featuring songs that are only numbers. I just saw that Brandon Lake has a new video for a song called “SEVENS” so I thought it would be fun to think about other titles that are only numbers. Can you think of any that aren’t included below?

There are quite a few more but these are the few that came to my mind right pretty much right off the bet. What are some of your favorites you’d add to this list?

-Out of the Wilderness