2004 was a big year for us. First, we became grandparents for the first time when Frida's daughter, Karin was born. Then, our younger daughter Astrid got married, and we were also invited to the royal wedding of Prince Frederick & Princess Mary of Denmark! We had a wonderful time. We recorded "Morning Has Broken" together that year too. It reached number 1 in Sweden which was sweet. And of course we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary that year!
Our girls made us a big party! Celebrities were coming, and I loved the way Robbie Williams greeted my husband, but what I loved more was how Morten was so warm and receptive to him. After dinner we all danced, and Morten & I danced of course to our first dance song & Honey Honey. Then, I danced with our daughter Astrid to the song "Fernando" as we sang it. It was a beautiful night indeed, & by the way, it was at the Stockholm Grand Hotel, so the ABBA people came too. Anyway, when everybody went back home, we made love in our suite, which happened to be the same suite as on our wedding night! We also performed our hits on both NRK & SVT (Norwegian & Swedish TV) as well as in Finland.
In May of 2005, Morten & I recorded & released a song called "God made you beautiful", made for our girls and granddaughter. It was another hit for both of us in the Nordic countries, not to mention that we celebrated 20 years since Take on me & Halo came out, we performed the mashups. Our Astrid bore her daughter Sonia also in May of 2005. May 3rd.
In 2006, our son Alexander got married to Marie! We were so happy for him, she is a sweet girl, and she went from being a friend to family! Our Alex, by now had made his music career and we were proud of him. In 2007 his daughter, Dora was born.
In January of 2007, we moved to Helsinki, Finland. Back in 1977, ABBA told us that if we wanted to made covers of their songs, they'd gladly let us anything, because we were their friends. So that year we recorded & released an ABBA cover album, double CD. It was so fun, and we did just like we did when we were young! Some music videos were even filmed for some songs, and that album went straight to No. 1 in all the Nordic countries!
We were absolutely thrilled, not just because of the success, but because we did something we love. It brought back a lot of memories, as if they weren't vivid already!
Also, I, along with my band, received the "Order of the Polar Star" in Sweden, and that was a fantastic honor, though I really didn't expect it!
My grandma on my mom's side sadly died in 2008 of natural causes as she was old. She, too, was born again, thank God. I remember she wanted to talk to us individually to say her final goodbyes. Morten & I went to the hospital & she looked strong enough. While we were alone we talked, and she gave me one final "squeeze hug". We always did those squeeze hugs ever since I was a little girl. Even when we talked on the phone, she'd "send" them, & I'd feel them just by the way she talked. She was strong enough to do it one more time in the hospital. We said our final goodbyes & I love you before I left the room so she could pray. Then that night we heard the news that she died. I of course cried my heart out, and I had a lot to say at her funeral.
2009 was happier. We celebrated our 30 years of marriage and we took a hot trip to Iceland to celebrate. We went in the hot springs, went shopping and relaxed at the hotel. But shortly after we came back, and I think they were waiting for us to recover, but all 3 of our children made us a 30th anniversary party for us! Of course it was so much fun. We were all happy, and getting on so well, and we felt God's love for us. Our Frida who is an excellent cook made us a replica of our wedding cake – it was white coconut cake! We cut it like we did on our wedding day, and there were these cute little whipped cream swirls on the cake!
Despite us being tired when we got back, we wanted to watch some television before going to bed, so that we could wind down before we... you know.
Nevertheless, it wasa great night for all.
