When children leave for college, some parents leave their kids’ rooms untouched, in pristine condition, so when they come back for the holidays or during summer vacation, it’s the same as they left it (without the piles of clothes on the floor, of course). But not us.

When little m went off to college, Miiko cleaned it out and moved all her stuff into the smallest bedroom, and turned her much bigger old room into a mini-home gym. That was in November, and incidentally, that was the last time we actually visited our regular gym. Why drive two miles to the gym when I can just walk across the hall from my home office and work out? When little m came home for the holidays last fall, and Miiko broke the news to her, I remember her saying in an annoyed tone of voice, “Uh, mo-ooom? Some parents leave their children’s rooms the same. Forever!”

Some do. But not us!

Her room is prime real estate. Two rooms, actually. A regular room with several steps that lead up to a second, octagon-shaped room, just big enough to fit her bed. Sunny. The highest point in the house. A princess in her castle. I would have been annoyed, too.

But now it was our gym. And we used it regularly. Months ticked by. Every month, our regular gym deducted our membership fees. We considered canceling our memberships, but in the back of my mind, I was going to go back. You know, next week. Some day. Real soon.

So this past Saturday, that day arrived. Six months since our last visit. I wanted to vary my workout and use all the machines I missed, so off we went. I worked out for an hour on the cardio machines and the weights, and afterward, I felt great. Once I was done, I peeked into the dance room and found Miiko dancing all alone in one end of the room. And to wait for her, I grabbed a mat, placed it in the middle of the dance floor and lay there, closed my eyes and listened to my iPod.

It was nice and relaxing. The fans above me cooled me off. And right there I vowed to stop being lazy and to go back to the real gym on a regular basis. It’s a better workout for me. I truly believe I’m back in the groove with this gym thing.

I’m going again on Tuesday. Really, I am.