2025 in Review

 Well, another year has gone by, and it was definitely a year.  Some interesting things happened in the ABBA world, like ABBA Voyage celebrating it's 3rd anniversary and them updating the setlist for the first time by removing some songs and adding new ones.  Frida and Benny were both present for the anniversary celebrations, and seeing the ABBA members is always such a treat.

Bjorn and Frida both celebrated their 80th birthdays this year, an amazing milestone!!  

We lost a few of ABBA's close friends and associates this year - Michael B. Tretow, Karin Glenmark, Jan Kling.  It has been absolutely heartbreaking and devastating to see so many important names pass away over the years, so many people who helped shape and played important roles in ABBA's story.  

One thing that I've been quite excited for is the rumors going around that ABBA Voyage might be building a venue in Hell's Kitchen, New York.  While I've only ever been in New York one time in my life and that was almost 20 years ago, in theory getting my scared-of-traveling-self to New York is doable and even more doable than traveling to the UK.  

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Personally, this year's been full of ups and downs.  I unfortunately lost a lot of motivation for my YouTube channel, mostly due to burnout and lack of inspiration, but at the same time, I've pretty much made a video on almost every topic I can think of.  People still actively watch my older videos, leave comments frequently, and they seem to bring people joy, so that's nice.  

The loss of my bird Darius really hit me hard. I know that every time I adopt an animal, that eventually they will pass away and it's going to hurt. I'd lost Skyler only two and half months before adopting Mordecai and Darius, so the fear of losing them was already on my mind from the day I adopted them.  I saw a post online that said that having a pet leaves you with so many of the most incredible days, followed by one of the worst days, and it couldn't be more accurate.   

I really wasn't prepared to lose Darius so soon.  He was only 5 years old, and I think reasonably healthy.  I weighed him and Mordecai every week, and I always closely monitored the two of them for any changes in behaviors and physical appearance.  They had routine vet care, and anytime I suspected something more serious was going on, I'd bring them to the vet.  I still don't fully know what happened to Darius, definitely something going on internally, and I can't help but worry that there were signs I missed, and if I had brought him to the vet sooner than I did, even though I brought him to the vet pretty quickly after I noticed something was wrong, maybe something more could have been done.  Now I'm constantly worrying myself looking for something wrong with Mordecai, as I'm worried that every little thing he does can be a sign that something's wrong.  But the vet was fairly certain that what Darius had was not contagious, and not to be morbid, but I think if it was contagious, I don't think Mordecai would still be here.  

In some ways the grief has been easier after losing Darius because I've had Mordecai still here to maintain a semblance of routine.  But watching Mordecai, a tiny little bird, have to navigate such big feelings has been rough as well. Grief has been hitting him really hard, and he has good days when he's happy and cheerful, and bad days when he just wants to sit on the roof of his cage and disassociate for hours. But I'm so glad we're able to work through this together, and I love him so so much.

I went to my third ever concert this year, and my first stadium show. I went to see the Jonas Brothers, performing in my home state which was really special, and... concerts a very loud and I think I start to disassociate and get too overwhelmed at concerts, and getting there was very stressful to me, but I think I'm glad I went.  Not sure I'd go to another, but I'm not saying I won't.

As usual, I also spent a lot of time with the outdoor animals.  I have really been enjoying being outside, all seasons, and this year I got to fulfill  another lifelong dream of befriending the squirrels.  Turns out they really like nuts, imagine that haha.  With squirrels being a lot bigger than chipmunks, their accidental bites hurt a little more than chipmunks, but I'm happy to say that they don't accidentally bite me as much anymore because we're good friends. I got to watch a lot of baby turkeys grow up this year as well as several mamas brought their babies through, and they're not scared of me which is so cool.  

I don't want to get my hopes up, but it would be really nice if 2026 would bring better and brighter things into my life right now. But, aside from my bird dying and my overall lack of creative motivation, the year was okay.  Not the best, and could definitely have been worse. 

Happy new year, everyone.

- Becky/ABBAFan456