Why Tam Lin?

At the start of our long driveway sits a small wooden sign. It simply states "Tam Lin"- not our names, just Tam Lin. We have had to start alerting newcomers about the sign, because folks have been known to drive right past (despite our assurance that it's the "first driveway on the left"- they assume that it's the home of Tam and Lin, not Hunt and Allison!
So why confuse the issue with the sign? Well, it's a long story. Tam Lin is a ballad, and it is a long story- about 42 verses, a story of true love and fidelity. There are many different versions, analyzed in great detail in various places on the web.
Basically, to make a long story short, Lady Janet (or Margaret, in some versions) meets young Tam Lin at Carterhaugh (her father's land, which he has given to her). After becoming, er, intimately acquainted, Tam Lin tells Janet that he is captive of the Queen of the Fairies, doomed to be killed this very night, unless one who loves him truly rescues him. Lady Janet questions him as to how this might be accomplished, and succeeds that very night by grabbing on to him and holding on and not letting go, despite his being transformed into all manner of beasts, until finally he was turned into a fiery coal, which she tossed into the holy well, resulting in his freedom from imprisonment. She wraps him in her cloak and carries him home on her horse, and true love prevails.
Hunt and I met in the fall of 2007, on an on-line site called Green Singles. We quickly guessed that this was The One, and learned from one another that we each had had a very bumpy road of love and singlehood. We assured each other that we were now holding out for The One, and I somehow was moved to tell him the story of Tam Lin. I assured him that when I found The One, I would hold on and not let go, like Lady Margaret. He was deeply moved by the story, and suggested that if we ever were to buy land, we would name it Tam Lin.
On our blog, Building our First Day Cottage, the story is told of buying the land and building our dream house. At Shutterfly you can see the evidence of our courtship- our wedding on Sept. 20, 2008 was a joyful day. We are now happily living our life of rural felicity in the house we have both dreamed of- there's still plenty of work to be done, and now that the snow has melted, the work goes on outside as well as inside.

Inner work, too. This blog is likely to be a spot for my musings on life, the universe, and the various thoughts I've been developing on my own personal Unified Field Theory of God, Space, Time, Music and Chocolate. It's a fine place to hang out for those of you who wait impatiently for updates on the house-building- that blog will gradually fizzle out, and this will become my holding tank for the thoughts I now have time to think. Hang out with me here, let me know what you think, and we'll pass some time along.

From the earliest version of Tam Lin:
Sae weel she minded what he did say,
And young Tam Lin did win,
Syne covered him wi her green mantle,
As blythe's a bird in spring