I’m not sure how the idea ever got started.

One minute we were talking about the newest addition to Troy University’s campus, and by the end of the week we had spread table on the grounds of Janice Hawkins Park.

It could have been my co-worker’s, whose more like a second mother, fascination with picnics, or maybe it was just my excitement over a leisurely afternoon in the Troy University facility. It was probably a little bit of both.

Either way, we had decided on a Monday, when I ended up with an entire sandwich tray at my house, that we would picnic that Wednesday.

“I’m bringing sandwiches, and we’re going on that picnic this week,” I said, probably more eager than I should have sounded.

“Oh, good we’ll all bring something,” my surrogate mom jumped in. “I’ll bring chips.”

“What are you going to bring?” she asked her daily lunch companion, who was wearing the craziest purse I’d ever seen in my life that day. “Yeah, you have to bring something,” I chimed in.

Before she had a chance to respond, we had decided she would supply our drinks, and a little less eagerly, she agreed.

So there we were, me and two slightly older ladies, with a blanket, a picnic basket and a camera headed out to enjoy our lunch.

The day was probably too windy for a picnic, is what I’m sure all the passersby were thinking. But, we didn’t care.

We enjoyed a flavorful lunch in good company and in good surroundings. We took pictures like tourists and even took back a couple stones from the fountain as souvenirs (Don’t worry, Dr. Hawkins, they were really small).

We had, as they would say, “a good ole time.”

If only every day could be as leisurely as this one. We all have those days or even weeks where it seems like we don’t stop, where from the moment we’re awake until we finally get to lay down to sleep, we are moving.

And, at times, it seems the only motivation is to wake up and do it all over again. With cell phones and computers and televisions and just plain busy lives, it’s hard to ever think to just slow down for a while.

But, this Friday, we three will go on our newest tradition of “first Friday picnics,” and our challenge is that you do something like it.

It doesn’t have to be a picnic or even on a Friday. All you need to do is hit the pause button, and enjoy something for a while.

Life gets pretty fast some days, and that’s why sometimes I just have to take a minute to — well, go on a picnic.

Holli Keaton is news editor for The Messenger. She can be reached at holli.keaton@troymessenger.com.