A Family Vacation

Chapter 2: Abbatars, Recording, and Family Life

Agnetha's POV

May 30, 2019

After being stuck in the usual rush hour traffic in Stockholm, I finally park my car in the parking garage right by the studio. Because I was running late (I slept in again), I decide to run straight to the studio from the parking spot in which I parked my car. And besides, the studio is only two blocks from the parking garage.

Once I arrive at the studio, I immediately take the elevator up to the fourth floor. The doors open and I'm not surprised that Bjorn, Benny, Frida, and Gorel were already there waiting for me.

"Helloeveryone! Sorry if I was running late, I was stuck in traffic and I ranstraight here from the parking garage!" I said.

"It's ok, Anna. What matters is that we're all here now and now we can all continue working on our abbatar projects and finish up on those recordings," Bjorn said, reassuring me as he gave me a warm hug.

"Ok good. I'm gonna try to get today's work over with. I have to be home early tonight."

"How come?" asked Gorel.

"I promised Linda that I'd help her cook dinner tonight while Jens is staying late at the office," I responded. This morning, as I was rushing to get to my car, my daughter, Linda, had approached me and asked if I can help her make dinner tonight since her partner, Jens, agreed to take the night shift at his job tonight.

"Alright then. Let's get started."

After that little small talk, Frida and I entered the recording room while Bjorn, Benny, and Gorel watched us as usual.

"Nervous?" Frida asked me.

"I'm a little nervous. Why do you ask?"

"Just to make sure. And why should you be nervous?"

"I'm nervous for many reasons. But let's not get into that right now. I promise I'll tell you later."

"Deal."

From there, the song's melody starts playing and Frida and I start singing. After recording the song, we recorded the other song that Benny and Bjorn wrote. And when that was all said and done, Frida and I came out of the recording room and joined Bjorn, Benny, and Gorel into the meeting space and we started discussing the abbatars. The abbatars are supposed are basically little recreations of Benny, Bjorn, Frida and I from when we toured America and Canada 40 years ago.

"Well the abbatars are looking great! I think all we need now is to test the abbatars out when it comes to live performances," said Benny.

"Totally agree," Frida replied, while Gorel, Bjorn, and I nodded our heads in agreement.

"Well now that we are pretty much done with the abbatars, let's take a break shall we?" said Bjorn.

We all nodded our heads in agreement. I decided to go make myself a nice cup of tea in the break room. When I was just about done with making the tea, someone decided to sneak up behind me.

"FRIDA! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" I shouted as I held my hand over my chest. Frida had given me a fright.

"Sorry Aggie! I thought that we could continue the conversation that we had earlier now that it's break time."

"Ok."

"Go on, tell me. We've known each other for about 50 years now. You know I'm an open book." Yes, it's true. I've known Bjorn, Benny, and Frida for about 50 years now. Just to give you a sense of how old we are. I take a deep breath.

"Well, the reason why I'm nervous is not because of the live performances themselves. I'm very aware that will be taken care of by the abbatars, so that's one less thing that I'll be worried about. But, the two things that I'm worried about are the fact that we're recording again as ABBA after all those years. What if I don't sing as good as I used too? Don't get me wrong, I released a new album just a few years ago plus we both sang for Benny and Bjorn for their 50th anniversary, but I'm a little scared that we may sound too old. We are grandmas for God's sake! And this leads to my second concern, which is another concern on a much more personal level."

"Tell me. I'm here, Aggie."

"I know we divorced 40 years ago, but I've never stopped loving Bjorn. You know that, Frida. But now that we've spent this past year back at the recording studio, my feelings for him are stronger than ever. After all, he's the father of my two children and grandfather of my four grandchildren. But he and Lena are still married plus they have their two girls."

"Don't worry, Aggie. Everything will be ok. In terms of your singing, you still sound really good. The entire world has faith in you when it comes to that, trust me. And as for you and Bjorn, I honestly don't know what to tell you. I mean, you know I felt the same way you did when Bjorn married Lena and Benny married Mona. But...I just don't know." Frida sighed.

"It's ok. Thanks for the advice, Frida" I said as we both gave each other a warm hug.

After our talk, we went back into the studio and recorded some more. Then, it was time for me to head home to help Linda cook dinner. I arrive at my farm in Ekero and greet Linda with a warm hug.

"Hi mama! How was your day?" she asked.

"Exhausting, but I'm back home now. Anyways, let's get cooking," I replied.

I helped Linda make a nice, lasagna dinner. After the food was ready, Linda and I sat down for dinner as a family, along with Tilda, Esther, and Signe, who are Linda's three girls. My son, Christian and his girlfriend, Isabelle, were also there with their young daughter. After dinner, we decided to sit around while Linda and Isabelle decided to do the washing up together.

I sat down on the couch where I was joined by Tilda, Esther, and Signe. Linda, Christian, and Isabelle joined soon after along with their little girl. We turned on the TV and we started watching some shows on Netflix. We enjoy watching so many shows on Netflix, but tonight we chose to watch Friends in particular.

We sat down and watched an episode of Friends, specifically the episode where Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Joey, and Chandler decide to play American football against each other. And believe me, we died of laughter all throughout the episode. Afterwards, it was time for us to go to bed.

"Mama, thanks for helping me cook the lasagna tonight," said Linda.

"No problem. Anything for my family," I replied.

And with that, we turned off the lights and went straight to bed. Once I got to my room, I immediately changed into my pajamas before going to the bathroom and brushing my teeth and ultimately, going back to my room and falling into a deep and peaceful slumber.