They call themselves ‘nice and crazy’ but they are always there for each other. Leontien Kuijpers (48) and Marjon Kleefstra (48) met each other 38 years ago as horse girls at De Zilverster management. Now they have already agreed that they will end up together in the same retirement home.
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Once both girlfriends are together, it comes with a lot of laughter, no shame and a strong attraction to those around them. “Something always happens when we’re together,” says Leontien. “Our friendship is based on hilarity. So after a party in Silverdome we went home on my bike. First we drove through the McDrive to get food, but after that we couldn’t go any further. Marjon turned out to be too heavy to carry on the back. With a blow in my wheel we had to walk home in the night.”
With champagne for the police station
During New Year’s Eve, Leontien and Marjon thought they would celebrate the New Year in the Amphion discotheque. “We didn’t know that you had to have a ticket for that,” says Marjon. “With a bottle of champagne we went to the Stadshart where we were stopped in front of Amphion. Then we went to celebrate New Year’s Eve on the bench in front of the police station. We waited just as long to be admitted.”
You are the lid, I am the jar
Both girlfriends had a care pony at manage de Zilverster when they were ten years old. “At 5 am we were braiding the ponies for an activity and we both rode along in the carousel. We always participated in playback shows. This is how we sang hard together You are the lid, I am the jar by Brigitte Kaandorp and Herman Finkers.” Leontien grew up in Buytenwegh, Marjon in Meerzicht. “We started getting together more and more and our friendship grew.”
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Highly pregnant to Schiphol
Marjon worked at a travel agency in the Stadshart. This meant that the friends could travel together for free. “We went to Hawaii,” says Marjon. “But also to Los Angeles and we hitchhiked in Spain.” Leontien’s mother has had non-Hodgkin’s disease for 40 years. “Marjon provided extra coverage in the travel insurance when my mother was getting worse,” Leontien says. “I think that’s so sweet of her that she arranged this for me, in case I needed to go back home.” But when the study trip to Malaysia was postponed for a day, Marjon phoned her heavily pregnant friend. “She just came to pick me up on the day of her birth with a garbage bag on the car seat. We are always there for each other.”
Mailbox full of gingerbread cookies
In difficult times, the friends can always turn to each other. After Leontien’s divorce, she lived at her friend’s house every other week. “Leontien and her parents owned a flower shop in the De Vijverhoek shopping center. Her father regularly brought me flowers as a thank you for taking care of his daughter.” After the divorce, Marjon moved to Dunantstraat, near the flower shop. “To cheer me up, Leontien filled my house with plants and flowers. She got me vegetables because I wasn’t eating healthy. With Sinterklaas she filled my mailbox completely with gingerbread cookies. Leontien loves to spoil people.”
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chat box
Really losing sight of each other has not happened in those 38 years. But after Marjon’s move to Limburg, the distance turned out to be too great for their friendship. The friends had less contact. After the divorce and a number of moves, Marjon returned to Zoetermeer. “We don’t see each other very often, but we are no longer afraid of losing each other. It is unconditional love. We did, however, always send each other a Valentine’s card with the letter B as the sender. That stands for chat box. That’s what Leontien’s father always calls us.”
The agreement is that the Zoetermeer girlfriends will leave the world together in one coffin. “We end up in the same retirement home and also die together,” Leontien explains. “One half of the box turns yellow, the other half orange. Our favorite colors.”