When I struggle with big challenges today, it helps me to remember how I survived a near physical shutdown as a child. At eight years old, I learned that sometimes your body tells you what you need, even when you don’t understand it. I had never heard of sunstroke. I didn’t know first aid. IContinueContinue reading “My Eight-Year-Old Self Knew What to Do”
Category Archives: Joy Washburn Gillis
Building a Japanese Rock Garden with My Dad
When I was very young, my dad, Bill Gillis, Jr., decided to create a Japanese rock garden in our side yard in Miami. He wanted it to stretch along the back fence all the way to the rose garden he had planted for my mom. It seemed an ambitious project, but my dad was upContinueContinue reading “Building a Japanese Rock Garden with My Dad”
Thursday Nights and Libbyland TV Dinners: A 1970s Memory
When I was growing up, my mom (Joy Washburn Gillis) cooked very healthy meals for our family dinners. She had to put thought and care into each recipe because my dad (William Gillis, Jr.) had a heart condition. Breakfast was often cereal and fruit. Lunch was usually a sandwich. But she insisted that we enjoyContinueContinue reading “Thursday Nights and Libbyland TV Dinners: A 1970s Memory”
My Handkerchief Shirt
In elementary school in the late 1970s, I made my own handkerchief shirt. It was for the Junior Girl Scouts sewing badge, called the Needlecraft badge. I had never tried to sew before, but I wanted to earn every badge. My mom, Joy Gillis, an expert seamstress, was determined to help me. My mom andContinueContinue reading “My Handkerchief Shirt”
Meeting Dad at Dinner Key
When I was growing up in Miami, one evening every year, my mom (Joy Washburn Gillis) and I packed a picnic dinner and drove to Dinner Key Auditorium. My dad (William Gillis, Jr.), an avionics engineer for Eastern Airlines, would drive from his office at Miami International Airport and meet us. Located on Biscayne BayContinueContinue reading “Meeting Dad at Dinner Key”
When Taffy Cat Adopted Us
When I was in kindergarten, an orange-and-white striped tabby cat showed up in our yard. She sat on the porch with me after school and showed no inclination to leave. I patted her, and she just hung out. My mom told me not to give the cat water or food because then she wouldn’t leave.ContinueContinue reading “When Taffy Cat Adopted Us”
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 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”
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”
Exploring Generations 