It has been a minute since I last used FUTURE as a Sunday Stills challenge, and the timing feels right to revisit it. Summer is now underway in the Northern Hemisphere, while winter has begun in the Southern Hemisphere. At the midpoint of 2026, this seems like a fitting moment to pause, reflect, and consider what the future may hold.
How Education Shapes the Future
June was a busy month with family celebrations and graduation parties. My niece’s two children both celebrated milestone graduations. My grandnephew graduated from high school and has his future set on working in the trades.
My grandniece graduated from Eastern Washington University and is pictured here with an amazing life-sized collage that depicts M as both a child and an adult.
I’m reminded of my days teaching at Sacramento State University, and I was always inspired by the students. I thought this quote was apt.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter F Drucker
A Long Road to a Meaningful Career
As I celebrate the future of recent graduates, I also look back on the journey my youngest daughter took during her college career. It has been 11 years since she graduated from university after a long road of rediscovery and redirection. After all, how many of us truly know what we want to do with our lives at 18 or 20 years old? She chose this quote and had it printed on her mortarboard for the ceremony.
“There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, And you ask, ‘What if I fall?’ Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” – Erin Hanson
In 2015, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation Therapy and has worked in the field ever since. Today, L is a recreation therapist at a psychiatric hospital in Southern California, where she supports patients who are receiving medication and participating in traditional therapy.
Her team uses recreational therapy to help patients build practical leisure skills through activities such as Arts and crafts, music, gardening, sports, and other outdoor activities. These simple leisure skills can help patients return to life outside the hospital with more purpose, confidence, healthier habits, and a stronger sense of hope for the future.
Let’s take a short pause and enjoy nature’s images of the future.
This is the third year “our” Say’s Phoebes have made their nest under our patio cover. We’re expecting this next set of babies to fledge any day now!
“In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the Earth.” ~David Attenborough
The United States Celebrates Its 250th Anniversary!
The United States is celebrating its 250th anniversary of independence on July 4, 2026. This milestone commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, first adopted in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
Also known as the Semiquincentennial, this historic milestone honors the nation’s founding principles of liberty and self-government while also reflecting on how those ideals have evolved over two and a half centuries. SOURCE
Image of the garden flag in our front yard.
Are you old enough to remember the United States Bicentennial on July 4, 1976? I was 16 that summer and about to enter my junior year of high school. If there was much hoopla surrounding the 200th anniversary, I missed it. I was likely at the beach or camping with my parents, wrapped in my own teenage fog.
Without the internet, social media, or the cell phone technology we rely on today, big national moments felt different then. Fifty years later, I remember very little about that celebration, which makes the upcoming 250th anniversary feel even more special. I added lots of red, white, and blue decor around the house. I posed my Dad’s urn with this small vase of faux florals.
We recently attended a local rodeo, where patriotic spirit was on full display throughout the grandstand. I took this picture but used AI to re-imagine the image’s background.
Looking Ahead Through Our Public Lands
Whether we remember camping in 1976 or imagine new adventures in 2026, our local, state, and national parks give us places to pause, explore, and appreciate the outdoors.
Thanks to the vision of leaders and naturalists such as President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, treasured landscapes like Yosemite and Yellowstone were protected for public enjoyment. Their efforts, along with the work of many others, helped preserve public lands for future generations.
As June comes to a close, let’s keep exploring the Great Outdoors. If a national park is out of reach, a nearby public park, trail, lake, or open space can offer its own sense of renewal—and a reminder that these shared places are worth protecting now and for the future.
Sharing this week for Dan’s CFFC Color challenge Brown, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, Kym & Sadje’s WQ: Connecting with Nature, and Lens-Artists: Letter B (babies, birds, Bicentennial)
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is simple to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives. Your original images reimagined with AI tools in post-editing are also welcome.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Independence Day holiday is this Saturday. Please encourage others to be safe and sane if you have the opportunity to use and purchase fireworks. Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate!
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