We have an ABBA lover in our family. Whew, I said out loud. Say it again, Val.
We have an ABBA LO-VER in our family.
Now mind you, he is not your ordinary sort of ABBA fan. You know, the kind that listens to the regular radio and sings along to "Dancing Queen." Or even the one who understands the reason why a Swedish band made a song about a mexican revolutionary. It goes much deeper than than that.
You might think that it is our own Mr. Fun. Makes a good guess. He is a dancing king of sorts, but alas. It isn't. It is Mr. Fun's Dad.
And for those of you who know Mr. Fun's dad, you won't believe what you are about to read.
Mr. Fun's dad, Mr. Doctor, is a very mellow sort of guy. Not too sentimental or attached to most anything, except some of his clothing he still wears he had in medical school (he is over 60 now) and some of his more favorite copies of books like "How to track anything in the mexican beach sand" or "How to mush the Ididarod on $5 a day and not get divorced." Other than that, he basically has to be strong armed into any sort of family function or just skips it all together. It isn't that he doesn't love the family, he is just a practical sort of man and it isn't how he is wired. Just doesn't feel it.
Except when it comes to ABBA.
Did you ever see that Seinfeld where Elaine dates a guy who basically falls into a coma-like trance when he heard the song "Desparado" by the Eagles play? That is Mr. Doctor for any ABBA song. No joke.
Last night, flipping through the tv, we hit the biography of ABBA on cable. They were talking about Bjorn and Benny and it made our hearts sort of flutter. Like they were talking about uncles or members of our family. We found out that they were just inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week. I am sure it was sweet music (no pun intended) to Mr. Doctor's ears! I need to send a congratulatory card.
The Girl has heard Mr. Doctor talk about ABBA more than ANY other subject in her whole life.
When we lived in SLC and Mr. Doctor had been strong-armed into a visit, one of the absolute first things he would do to settle in was go to the front room and put in our ABBA Greatest Hits cd. For the duration of the trip, when he wasn't at what was required, he could be found there, laying quietly on the couch or floor, listening to the cd over and over.
When he bought a new truck several years ago (at least 8 I can recall) part of the selling point was the 5 cd changer came with it. I burned 5 copies of that beloved cd (the same cd mind you) and sent them. They have resided in the truck ever since and as far as family folklore goes, he has never taken them out. Point: he has been listening to the same ABBA cd in his truck over and over for at least 8 years. :)
One Christmas I put together a poster-sized collage of pictures and song lyrics for him. I hear it ended up at the clinic office.
Suffice it to say he is a fan.
The two most unbelievable fan pieces are as follows:
When "Momma Mia" came out in musical theater, Mr. Doctor flew from AK to San Fransisco for one day just to see it.
When Mr. Doctor hears ABBA, talks about ABBA and their musical gift or their record-breaking career, often times he weeps. No, I am not kidding. The most strange piece of that is last night, watching the biography of their story, the music critic from the USA Today newspaper cried when he talked about them as well. He said the very same types of things that Mr. Doctor has been saying all these years.
I don't think we are old enough to "get it."
This is what I decided. You know those tones or pitches that teenagers and young people can hear that we older folks cannot. Or whistles that dogs hear and we can't. Maybe there is something with the ABBA music that older folks can hear that we can't.
Our sincere congratulations to ABBA and their induction in the RR Hall of Fame. Right next to James and the Boys from Metallica.
I gotta go. I have to go write a congratulatory note to their biggest fan. :)
