Letter from an "ABBA Mum"

Yesterday afternoon I was moving a big box of mail that I have accumulated since 1980 when I started corresponding with people...... way back when I ONLY wrote to ABBA fans.... Anyway, to cut a long story short, I found a letter... or more like a short story that my Mum had written.   Seeing her handwriting pulled at my heart strings and just looking at it now brings tears to my eyes. BUT I wanted to share this story with you... I checked with my sister if she minded me posting this to the list, and she didn't. You see, Stella, my twin, is also an ABBAMAILer.

My Mum died in 1994 and this story was written 13 years ago in 1990. She was a massive ABBA fan herself and absolutely adored Frida and we had many an argument about Agnetha... our fave!!!

The title is "What it's like to be the long suffering Mum of twin ABBA fanatics....

I hope some people on the list will enjoy it - it certainly brings back memories for me. I didn't realise how emotional I found copying the letter out word for word....

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What it's like to be the long suffering Mum of twin ABBA fanatics

We were living in Germany in 1974 when the Swedish group first came into our lives - on a program about the Eurovision song contest.

After Waterloo, the winning song, I received, as a present, my first ABBA LP - though it was not destined to be my property for very long! My twin daughters, Dionne and Stella, who at that time were 8½ 'pop' mad, suddenly developed a real interest in our Swedish friends. An interest that has lasted and continued to this day...16 years later.

I have lived through the group's successes, Agnetha's pregnancies, marriages and the hard to bear divorces, when real sorrow was felt and real tears shed! I have slept in my kids' bedroom on occasions when we had guests, closing my eyes to dream of Benny (my own fave) waking up surrounded on all sides (and on the ceiling) by those four people who rule our lives.

I have cut out pictures, cuttings, articles... having to buy two of every newspaper and magazine to make sure they had a copy each. Birthday presents and Christmas presents were easy to find....... anything to do with ABBA. Pen friends (always with an ABBA interest) have come and gone. Holidays have been taken in Sweden (mainly 2 weeks outside Agnetha's house hoping for a glimpse!). Birthday cards, Christmas cards have been inscribed "ABBA New Year" etc etc...

I've gotten use to meeting up with friends, who have moved out of our every day lives, to be asked "How are the twins, do they still like ABBA?"

I have many special memories...... of a grown man on his knees in front of a video, drooling over Agnetha's boots, of an older brother of the twins (whose best occupation was to torment them!!!) "hanging" ABBA (by suspending all their ABBA dolls from the bedroom window). And of the twins taking ALL their ABBA posters, books, records, dolls etc etc to a neighbour's house for safe keeping when the same brother was on leave from the army. Memories of being really glad I was spared the embarrassment of knowing that the screaming females on a video recording (CHESS premiere) shouting "WE WANT ABBA" were my quiet, well behaved daughters; and of being amazed that someone could be so thrilled because Benny had spoken to her....... to tell her to get out of his way!

I have never quite been able to work out how much could be spent on ABBA stuff and how the same show could be watched over and over again. Or that the depth of feeling can be so great that a person needed to change his name to Fältskog. If only the immense sense my girls have shown in getting bargains and making money out of a hobby (sorry a lifestyle) would be channelled into real life. Or if only the full value of what they have spent over the years could be totalled into a sum of money, they would have enough to buy and furnish a home!

All in all, it has been fun, lots of laughs, lots of friends and at last... I am going to my first show connected with the group with one of the twins and my 8 year old grand-daughter (who has also been introduced!)........ we are going to see CHESS in Bradford.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world

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You know, I did not realise how emotional I found that, copying the letter out word for word....but boy has it bought back so many memories..... hope some out there have enjoyed this.

Dionne Kennedy, Colne, UK