“Add a little more thyme to the pot, would you?”

My best friend Lilah and I were cooking a creamy mushroom pasta. Each week we get together to try a new recipe, watch a movie, and get our daily dose of friendship. I pick the movies and Lilah picks the recipes. We know our strengths.

“Sure. That’s more than your recipe called for, though.”

She smiles a tiny smile and nods, licking the spoon clean. “Yeah,” she says, “but I’m feeling a little under the weather.”

I pause stirring the sauce and think over her statement a few times before looking at her with squinted eyes and a wrinkled forehead. “Huh?”

“You know. Thyme heals all wounds,” she says like this makes sense to me.

I laugh a little. “Lilah, it’s _time_. T-I-M-E. _Time_ heals all wounds. Like, you get over stuff with enough time.”

“Oh, Callie. That’s what people say now. But that’s not how it started. _Thyme_. T-H-Y-M-E. _Thyme_ has healing properties.” She smiles and nudges my elbow with hers to make sure I knew she was teasing me with the sass.

“Seriously, you can look it up. Thyme has digestive uses and is an immunity booster. People would use the leaves to make tea or use the oil and that would help with skin issues and respiratory health. It has also been thought to regulate blood pressure and heart rate. _And_ it has antimicrobial, antiseptic, and antibiotic gal properties. So when used properly, thyme really does heal all wounds. Or most of them.”

I stand there stunned, staring at my best friend like I’ve never seen her before.

“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not my fault people misinterpreted the saying and assumed it was the human construct of time. It was probably all a ruse from big pharma, who didn’t want to encourage people to heal from natural herbs so they could spend more money on medications instead.

“Did you know that’s why people started drinking more milk? It wasn’t really a big deal until the dairy companies, which I like to call big dairy, needed to sell more milk and came up with the “Got Milk?” campaigns. You know—“

“It must be really hard knowing everything,” I interrupted with a smirk.

“Oh, it’s the hardest!”

We both laugh and go back to the mushroom pasta, talking about our favorite parts of Legally Blonde that we will be rewatching for the 4th time tonight. All thoughts of thyme and time forgotten.