The Honeylamb Chronicles
It's been an interesting ride!
Honeylamb? Really?
Of course my name is not Honeylamb. It is Cunningham, Ardy Cunningham. Honeylamb is not so much a nickname as it is a misunderstanding turned into a funny story turned into a loving moniker. I like it, so did Jim.
So this is what happened: Back in the ’70’s, way back, Jim was a bartender and manager of the Zoo Bar in Lincoln. It was, and still is a music bar, Blues, really, but music of all sorts. Anyone who has enjoyed the music there can attest to how loud it is when the bands are playing.
One evening (I assume) Jim was introduced to our lovely Mary T., But she didn’t quite catch his name over the din of the crowd/music. She thought she heard Jim Honeylamb. Even after the mistake was corrected, some time later I think, she continued to call him Honeylamb and a few others did as well.
Jump to 2015? We had moved back to Lincoln and were meeting some people at the then new Zipline Tasting Room, most especially Steve Brewster, who no longer lives in Lincoln and was in town for a visit. While chatting and catching up at the bar Steve got a phone call from Mary T. who was excited to find out that Steve was at the bar with the Honeylamb’s. Of course the story had to be recited in great depth to all assembled and, voila! Honeylamb was resurrected.
We have been The Honeylamb’s since then. When I thought about making this blog the name just came to me.
So now what?
I began in February to keep a diary, a log, some record of the stuff that was happening with Jim. I should have done it all along but it seemed too difficult at the time. I do have the entries I put on the Caring Bridge website that I can refer to for his first cancer.
I knew I could go back and revisit it and edit it later but at the time I just kind of thought I’d stream my thoughts. I thought about separating it into sections eventually: the years, the doctors, the nurses, chemo, radiation, the effects, people’s suggestions, all those things that go into a life lived with cancer.
This is how I began…
“So if you didn’t know my husband has lung cancer. Yes, stage 4 lung cancer and he has had it for a while. We are into our third year. Lots has happened. You know, first you get the diagnosis and that first round of treatments. We were lucky? I say that with a question mark because he has had cancer before so we were familiar with the doctors and the rhythm of how it goes and we were confident with the doctors that treated him the first time. I know I’ll say “we”a lot. I don’t have cancer, he has cancer. (Oh when I say this in my head before I start writing it down it all sounds so much better.) “
In some of my Blog posts I will talk about the first cancer he had on the back of his tongue. In some I will talk about the lung cancer treatments. I don’t want to be too graphic, but part of the point of this blog is give you an idea of how it looks from the inside. Some of you already know. Bless you.