Ode to One Man, One Woman

ABBA for life - ode to all who have suffered in painful relationships - including, the children. The children, most of all. That's so many of us, as children.

How long do you have to keep on trying, really?

This song "One Man, One Woman" just hit so hard right now.

I was a child with my parents for eight years, while they kept up a strained relationship that ended in divorce at the time this song came out. I've been living this type of marriage for a decade. In this very house where I am again living with the children 24 hours each week.

Why do we hang on to this nuclear family ideal so hard? "Hoeksteen van de samenleving," Wopke Hoeksteen. How well has christianity succeeded in brainwashing us? And at what price?

Yet I would also like to praise all those in such a, or any kind of tough situation. For enduring it, for hangin' in there, for maintaining hope, for keeping faith. For keeping your soul alive, even if it seems tucked away, hidden, even to yourself, in a deep dark corner of your mind. Maybe in your body somewhere. Or in your wardrobe, or in a playlist or meme account.

And I would like to try and reassure you. As long as you keep on breathing, as long as your heart beats: you are alive and so is your soul. Given the right nurturing conditions, the right people, the right Inspiration, your light will show itself again, cosily like a fireplace, or fierce like a flare up rocket or a bonfire.

No matter how big or small, even the tiniest spark, once you show it to the world, it will attract other souls' fire like the warning beacons of Gondor, amplifying the power, summoning more help and burning whatever does not serve you.

This whole album by ABBA, "the Album", is like a complete therapy trajectory. Also, listen to "One Man..."'s baseline - amazeballs 🎸

LISTEN TO IT MAN otherwise it will not stand (also Dudism rocks).

I wrote this may 6th 2023, published on Instagram, edited it for this blog june 28th 2023.