Why the name "Old Thyme Medicine"?

By Mary Katherine Hawk

It's a lovely little story really. The name I chose for our little center has years of personal history and memory to it. I knew I wanted to go into healthcare as a practicing healer pretty much as far back as five or six years old. Every time I would stray even a little from that vision, such as pursuing music in college or learning banking after getting married years ago, I always felt lost and frustrated that I wasn't giving my time to what made me happy. What started out as fantastic thoughts of saving the world as a small girl evolved into caring for others out of duty as a woman. I also knew I wanted to run a business, oddly enough. I was always playing office in my basement, scribbling on my dad's old papers and playing on the calculator. I was always outside in the trees, scraping knees and digging up mud and then realizing that I had to fix the scraped knees and replant the plants I pulled out of the ground. Over the years, the feeling of wanting to learn about medicine and also about opening my own business were simply always there, tapping on my brain, itching to come into fruition. Now and then, I would write down business ideas, names, or notes that came to mind and along the way, I scribbled "old thyme medicine" on a piece of paper. For some reason that name always kept coming up and it kept making more sense.

For me, massage and plant medicine are the two most foundational forms of medicine there are. I believe them to be the first forms of medicine known to man and the most necessary. A healthcare system without these two forms of medicine makes absolutely no sense, in my mind. When I opened my business, I wanted a name that reflected the foundations of medicine and a homage to tradition. The "old thyme" part is my way of referencing the twange I hear in the accent of small-town rural America and my love of the Appalachian mountains. My family traveled through the Appalachias every single year for many years, growing up and I always knew I wanted to live in the mountains someday. "Thyme" is a reference to my life-long love of plants and nature and my love of plant medicine. I love the fact that the name I chose for my business has depth and connection to my life and how I came to be in the mountains. I believe the name is just one more element to ensuring our little center has healing roots in the community we aim to help.