It's only $2 a day

I joined a gym.

I know. You can get fit without a gym. You can do sit-ups at home. Goodwill is always overflowing with used exercise DVDs, and the library has them, too. You can walk or run or jump rope, all for free.

I know all that but I joined a gym anyway.

Not only that, I joined an expensive gym. It's not the cheapest gym in town, its not the average priced national chain. In fact, it is twice as much as the national chain.

And I still joined the gym.

I thought about it long and hard, first. After all, its a monthly bill....an unnecessary monthly bill, which is something I spent five years eliminating.

This summer, I signed up for the free week at the national chain. After work that first day I ran home, changed into "workout clothes" and sneakers and hopped back in the car and over to the gym. I was going to try out a Zumba class and see what I thought.

I was at the gym in just a few minutes, shortly before 5pm. Well ahead of the 5:30pm class, because I wanted time to check out the gym.
Well, I should say, I was in the gym parking lot shortly before 5pm. The small, V-shaped parking lot. Along with about a dozen other people.

We drove slowly, turning at the narrow corner, and back down the other lane, desperately seeking parking spots.

Visions of college flashed before me. I needed a gym buddy...someone to get out and play traffic cone because, there....THERE! Over there....there was a spot, but all these cars are in my way and that...that Be*otch in the over-priced car her daddy bought her just stole MY SPOT.

I drove around the parking lot. Slowly. I saw others get spots and head into the gym, but 45 minutes later, the Zumba class had started, and my car didn't make the turn, but instead continued on out of the parking lot and headed back home.

When I walked in the door, he looked up, expectantly. "What did you think?"

"I think I am never joining a gym. Ever. What a waste of money! I would NEVER go, because it is WAY too much hassle!"

It was 3 months before I decided to check out this expensive gym. The expensive gym with the free parking garage. The expensive gym that is literally on my way to work. With classes before work, and also classes at 4:45pm (which is pretty much perfect since I get off work at 4:30, three blocks way).

It only took me a week to decide to join the gym. Every month when I write the membership check, I cringe, I admit, even though the money is "in my budget" and basically was the money from the storage unit I gave up (story for another day, as to why I had a storage unit.)

There's some hidden benefits, too, that make it SO worth the money. Oh, there's the whole "getting in shape" thing. Whoo-hoo. Whatever.

But, as winter has descended upon Omaha, and our tiny, fairly uninsulated house is kept at 62 degrees, going to the gym in the morning allows me to shower and change in a room warm enough to be considered humane. No goosebumps for this girl!

And, the gym provides hair dryers. Hair dryers that plug in, in front of mirrors, in the well-lit locker room. Compared to our tiny bathroom with no outlets, this is also a HUGE bonus.

At the gym, there are 12 televisions, all in a row, each on a different channel. When you use the cardio equipment, you plug your headset in and choose which channel you want to listen to. Now that we've given up cable television, I can still get my fix of HGTV, Style, E!, and several other mind-numbing channels. While he sits home going through channel-surfing withdrawal, I am actually listening to HGTV while watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. Tell me that's not a bonus!

And don't even get me started on the sauna. Or the staff massage therapist.

So I joined a gym. Its a really big pickle, you might say.

But what makes this totally acceptable, in an unbroke sort of way, is that I use the gym. Daily. Sometimes twice daily.