Wed Feb 14, 12:41 News
GORREDIJK Pieter Kooistra is gold. Despite his own physical problems, he supports her through thick and thin and is also there for others. Because he is her heart of gold, Dirkje Blokzijl thinks that Pieter deserves a surprise for Valentine’s Day.
Almost thirteen years ago, when they met, Pieter brought her out of an emotional and traumatic period. He brought peace. “He has a different view on things. I looked at everything negatively, cleaned my hair thoroughly. Hy sei: do hast sels ek in miening.” That’s when Dirkje started to let go of big and small things. Like cooking food. “I think it’s neat that he was crazy about that, I was crazy about everything. And I had to loosen that.”
In turn, Pieter also became emotional, Dirkje remembers. Pieter (68) is a serious heart patient, yet he is still there for everyone. Around the age of fifty he got new hips and stopped working, but later heart problems arose. “He was given diversions but neither in cardiac arrest.” Pieter received an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) but his heart function deteriorated. “Trije jier lyn koe hy neat mear. Do that he will get a supportive heart.”
Never in the pit
Despite the physical problems, Pieter was and is never in the well. However, he is limited in what he can do. “If something big happens at home, our boys come home to help. And helping with moving the children is not possible either. The fact that he can’t do those heavy things anymore, he thinks it’s bad.” It is also difficult to accept that some things they liked to do together can no longer be done.
However, all this does not stop Pieter from being there for others, for example for the two billiard clubs of which he is a member. “If by any chance someone has to count points, then he says: I want that.” Or the neighbors have to go to the hospital, no problem, he will come along for a while. And then on beautiful summer days, it is all fun and cheerful. “Pieter doesn’t have to leave it in the bowl, sometimes the whole body sits in front of him.” Pieter is at the front if someone needs help, says Dirkje. Her sons run away with him and so do his own daughters.
In Champino
Pieter is her golden heart, in terms of love but also literally. That’s how it is. Twelve years ago, Dirkje went to Champino in Drachten with her youngest son. “He wanted that mem to be gone.” There she met Pieter, a man who can easily strike up a conversation with anyone. He was there with friends. “And he told me: this man has a heart of gold. And he fielded well, who is as bad as I have been before him.” Shortly after this first meeting it was Pieter’s birthday. Dirkje bought gold pendants, half a heart for each of them. “He is my golden heart and I always love him.”
Pieter was surprised with a wonderful gift: a book voucher made possible by Planteyn Boeken in Gorredijk.