Author Archives: Janet Eriksson

Remembering My Cousin Sandra

With the Christmas season approaching, I remember my cousin, Sandra Kay Jackson Miller Comisky Dugan. She always made our family Christmas celebrations memorable with her tins of homemade sweets. These treats were creative and delicious. Imagine miniature stained-glass windows made of chocolate and marshmallows, and that was just one of the variety of sweets sheContinueContinue reading “Remembering My Cousin Sandra”

The First—and Last—Thanksgiving Turkey I Ever Cooked

In the late 1980s, I moved from Florida to Massachusetts for graduate school. It was my first Thanksgiving away from home, and I was expecting visitors: my fiance, my niece who was a college student in a nearby town, and one of her college friends. I was determined to do the full meal deal forContinueContinue reading “The First—and Last—Thanksgiving Turkey I Ever Cooked”

Future Generations Will Treasure Your Words

You may feel called to record your life story for future generations. But you might wonder sometimes whether anyone will want to read that story. I have struggled with those same thoughts.  On the flip side, as someone who is researching my family’s history, I can assure you there will be family members in futureContinueContinue reading “Future Generations Will Treasure Your Words”

The Beauty of an Ordinary Moment in Belarus

I crossed the border between Russia and Belarus at a tumultuous time in the late 1990s. I had a lot to worry about—and to be excited about. I’m amazed at how, so many years later, what stands out in my memory isn’t the dramatic backdrop. It’s an ordinary moment with a student whose name IContinueContinue reading “The Beauty of an Ordinary Moment in Belarus”

The Little Library that Stopped by Every Saturday

On Saturday mornings in kindergarten, I kept a close watch out the window toward the park across the street. A little mobile trailer would roll in, and I’d run to get my mom. The traveling library was here! Evening reading time! Pictured here with my dad, Bill Gillis. Photo by my mom, Joy Gillis EvenContinueContinue reading “The Little Library that Stopped by Every Saturday”

From Click to Crinkle: My 1970s School Lunch Memories

Most elementary school kids of the 1970s would recognize the click of a metal lunchbox opening. Back then, we had two choices: eat a cafeteria-cooked meal or bring a lunch from home. For those of us who mostly brought our own lunch, the choice of lunchbox for the new school year was a big deal.ContinueContinue reading “From Click to Crinkle: My 1970s School Lunch Memories”

Sixty Miles and Twenty Years

Looking back on the walk that taught me about strength, hope, and community  It’s been 20 years since I packed my walking shoes and headed to Tampa, Florida for the Susan G. Komen 60-mile walk for breast cancer awareness. It was a life-changing event for me in so many ways. I’m writing about it nowContinueContinue reading “Sixty Miles and Twenty Years”

How My Mom and Dad Met

I always enjoyed hearing how my mom, Joy Washburn Gillis, met my dad, William Gillis, Jr. My mom’s first encounter with my dad actually happened when she was two years old. They lived on the same street in Little River, in Miami, Florida. She would stand at the window and watch this 13-year-old boy walkContinueContinue reading “How My Mom and Dad Met”

Crickett Kitty and the Blizzard of 1996

From January 6-8, 1996, a massive snowstorm, one of the biggest of the century, covered the Northeast. We were living in New Jersey. As a Miami girl, I was barely used to cold and snowy winters. I had never been through a blizzard like that and didn’t know what to expect. My husband and IContinueContinue reading “Crickett Kitty and the Blizzard of 1996”