mom – Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

Happy Mother’s Day!

There are many reasons why I’m grateful I had the mother I had. Here are just some in honor of Mother’s Day!

Advice

Me and my mom, my mom and me

My mom has always been a great advice giver. She taught me to never let them know they are getting to you. When things didn’t go my way, she encouraged me to see the humor and the story in the event. She always encouraged me to pursue dreams without letting me think they are easily attainable.

No Pressure

My mom expected us to try our best, but there was no pressure to do better or be a straight A student for the sake of getting A’s or killing ourselves. She has always balanced work with fun and encouraged relaxation—a trait I’m still trying to learn from her. I admire her ability relax. It’s vital to our health and we don’t give enough credit for those who don’t sweat the small stuff. The older I get, the more I appreciate this about my mother. Not just because it is a good trait, but because I was born a type-A, go getter who could burn the […]

Happy Mother’s Day!Maggie Downie2018-05-04T10:52:34-04:00

Menstrual cramps or gas

This is my mom. The woman who created the chicken walk.

If you ever asked me if I knew the difference between menstrual cramps or gas, I would have definitively said, “Yes.” With that opening line, you probably realize that this blog may come with a little TMI. I’m going to talk about my bowels more than you may care to know about. I’ll try to make the process at least mildly entertaining. But if you don’t have any menstrual or bowel trouble you’ve been trying to sort out, you can feel free to skip this one. However, if you have ever confused menstrual cramps for gas, keep reading.

Menstrual Cramps or Gas

I’m familiar with gas pain. As a kid if you had gas pain in our house my mom would make you get up and move. She called it the chicken walk. You would make big, exaggerated movements and get your knees up really high, practically pulling one knee up toward one shoulder and then repeating on the other side as you strutted around the room. If you weren’t doubled over in pain from gas cramps it would have been […]

Menstrual cramps or gasMaggie Downie2019-07-31T20:45:46-04:00

To My Mother for Mother’s Day

To my mother:

My mom is the best mom, at least for me. To keep you reading, she’s not perfect. If she were, I might not like her as much. I’d certainly be less impressed. While I am about to gush about her for a moment, she has her flaws. She is human. I don’t say that to knock her, but it’s even more impressive to me how much I’ve grown to admire her as a parent knowing, and even liking, her imperfections, for the most part. Every moment of my childhood wasn’t perfect, although luckily, for me, the good certainly outweighed the bad. But what my mom gave me was a person in this world who seemed to enjoy me endlessly. For me, that has been truly vital.

Growing up she made life fun—dancing to show tunes in the living room, swimming in the pond at Misquamicut Beach, nightly massages as she listened to every detail of my day which included obnoxiously, exhaustive, extremely comprehensive information. If I ate my sandwich top down instead of bottom up, she heard about it. If I went to the bathroom five times or three, she […]

To My Mother for Mother’s DayMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:46:03-05:00

My Mom’s Birthday

Today is my mom’s birthday. Happy birthday, Mom! In honor of her, I thought I’d mention some types of movement/exercise I remember doing with my mom while growing up.

Walking to Leary Park and back (in Waterford, CT)
Doing Raquel Welch videos
Tae Bo videos
Dancing to show tunes in the living room
Dancing to whatever was playing on the radio while we made dinner
Swimming at the pond at Misquamicut Beach

Personal Euphoria

My Mom’s BirthdayMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:46-04:00