a brief biography
abbagirl did not emerge from the womb as an instantaneous lover of all things abba.
in fact, for much of her early life, abbagirl was actually rather blase about abba. she wouldn't have known who abba was if abba came and bit her on the heinie or knocked her out with a disco ball.
thus, horrifically enough, abbagirl could have easily been dubbed diamondgirl instead, since she has always been an avid neil diamond fan:
the super diamond himself, feeling the passion of his own music!
or gypsygirl in homage to stevie nicks:
the early days before fleetwood mac -- long live buckingham nicks!!
or jettheadgirl because, for a time, she was seriously infatuated with joan jett:
however, the fates have simply decreed abbagirl it must be. for abbagirl, the title simply feels quite right and natural.
for abbagirl, abba is more than a band that, for a short time in music history, brought bubbly, positive, and effervescent music to the public.
the first time that abbagirl had the good fortune of listening to abba was when she was perhaps twelve or thirteen years old. in those days, her parents were finally hitting their stride as wage-earners and had begun escaping from the rather poor financial situation they had found themselves in after becoming refugees to the united states. it was now fifteen years that they had been in the united states. and at last, they had stable jobs, one as a state employee and the other as a federal employee, and they had gradually sought promotion after promotion until finally making a space for themselves in the relaxing comforts of middle-class america.
one of the ways they celebrated the new glorious powers that come from having disposable income was by purchasing a time share at a resort at lake tahoe. it became quite a boon to these parents and their three daughters to go escape to the middle of a forest and enjoy quality time at the beautiful lake.
the family would go mostly once a year, sometimes twice. this newfound retreat proved to be of such a particular delight to abbagirl. her sisters were rather disinterested in the new sights that tahoe offered, but to abbagirl, the area appealed to her rather romantic outlook on the world and on nature. she grew to be quite interested with tahoe lore, particularly that of tahoe tessie, a creature comparable to that of the loch ness monster that is said to dwell deep within the virtually bottomless lake. she also liked to take long walks, either by herself or with anyone else who cared to join her, along the shores of the lake and let the cool water envelop her feet and feel her toes mash into the wet sand.
up until and during this time of her life, abbagirl had a childhood that was fairly memorable -- both in good ways and in bad ways. by this time, of age twelve or thirteen, she had honed her skills as an appeaser, skills that she still continues to utilize successfully to this very day. she learned quite well how to read people, their facial expressions, and their tones of voice to anticipate what their next words or actions would be. by honing her skills in that area, she developed the ability to make sure that only smiles were ever shown her way, not frowns, and to diffuse any negative situations before they erupted. and she was mostly successful on that front.
nonetheless, in addition, she had also learned that the best way to get on in the world was mostly by being quiet. by an early age, it had been instilled in her the importance of staying out of other people's way. so even at the age of six or seven, she had learned to find company and much needed solace in books. in fact, her greatest memory regarding books was the day, when she was about ten years, that her favorite uncle in the world put an agatha christie mystery novel in her hand.
however, perhaps that's a story for another time.
anyhow, when abbagirl wasn't reading her books, she merely quietly observed the people around her. and it was only when she was among a few trusted people, like her mother, her older sister, or her youngest aunt, that abbagirl could give in to her innately sly and quirky sense of humor and cause people (and herself) to laugh uproariously.
in any case, although it was generally great fun for abbagirl and her family to retreat on vacation every once in a while, these vacations tended to be rather hit-or-miss. depending on the personalities and moods of certain members of her family, the trip could be an extremely fun and pleasant one or dark and uncomfortable.
but there is one particular trip to tahoe that stands out most in abbagirl's mind as being the most pleasant and most memorable. this was a time when, for the full two-and-a-half hours that the family trekked from their home in norcal to their timeshare resort in tahoe, the whole family was laughing together, making jokes, and just having a great time. even then, abbagirl marveled at it all and knew how special that time was. and as she looked out the window at all the passing bright green conifers and listened to the sound of light laughter and teasing around her, she thought to herself, smilingly, "this is exactly how a family should be." within the family car at that time, all was right in the world. there were no extraneous worries, woes, or angst to cast a shadow over the family's mood.
and what CD was playing non-stop in the car the whole time?
well, actually, there were two CDs on repeat during their journey through the mountains.
this one played while the family was still making their way out of the city:
but this is the one that played while they wound their way up i-80 and that abbagirl associates with that brief but happy time in her life:
"fernando" -- abba
the favorite abba song of abbagirl's mom
