“She’s a dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen” famous lyrics from ABBA, a favorite band of my Dads. Most people recognize these song lyrics from the legendary musical, Momma Mia. I however owe all of my knowledge of this song to my parents, as they have played ABBA in my house for as long as I can remember. Dancing Queen is one of ABBA’s most popular hits, and for good reason. The song is fun, upbeat, and timeless, or at least that’s what I thought up until this month.
At the end of the month, I will be turning eighteen years old., yeah, I know, scary right?
You see, no one warns you about the feeling when you’re about to be an ‘“adult’”. Although we all know that no one becomes a true adult until you start paying your own taxes – (I am dreading that day).
This might seem random, but I do have a point with this I promise.
The first time I heard dancing queen, I was somewhere between the ages of five to eight. I was sitting in a booster seat, so let’s hope I wasn’t eight… with my seatbelt fastened on my way home. The song felt fun and very catchy. I would go around the house asking my mom to play it over and over until she remembered to tell me that there was a movie with the song in it.
By the time I finally got around to watching the film, I was 11 years old. Yeah, I know it took me a minute. I loved it. Greece became my new obsession along with the magical number of seventeen. I remember wanting to be seventeen so bad. In my eyes, seventeen-year-olds had it all going for them. Being able to dress themselves and not look stupid, drive a car wherever and whenever they felt like it, and stay up as late as they wanted. Little me, was no longer interested in playing dress up, or freeze tag, okay maybe I’ve never grown out of dress up, but I wanted to grow up – and fast.
On my seventeenth birthday, I remember playing this song in my car. Things were a lot different than they were back in my early ages of middle school. I was finally a dancing queen.! The excitementTheis excitement that came with listening to the wonderful lyrics of ABBA felt like an achievement. And eEverything I thought at 11 years old was true, no more bedtimes (though I wish I would go to bed sooner), I have my license, and can somewhat put an outfit together…most of the time.
It wasn’t until the other day that I heard Dancing Queen playing that I stopped in my tracks and thought “Only seventeen.” Only seventeen? Then what? What happens when she turns 18? I mean, do I stop becoming young and sweet, and subtly turn into the antonyms of old and bitter? There is nowhere else in the song that mentions what you become at eighteen. And wWhile I know these lyrics came from a band trying to make a catchy tune,. I took these lyrics and drove myself crazy about what came next.
Though I am scared to say goodbye to the magical numerical value of seventeen,. I am excited to create my own song for growing up. “ Cool, and headed to college, awesome and eighteen!” Wow…… sounded more catchy in my head. But until that day comes, I will be listening to Dancing Queen on repeat to continue to stay young and sweet!
