Ottilie - That´s How She Rolls

What makes other people actually happy in life? If you ever wondered, you have come to the right place. In regular intervals REHACARE.de asks a varity of people always the same questions. What results from that? Read for yourself!

11/08/2010

 
Ottilie Bugge; © private

Name: Ottilie Bugge
Age: 94
City: Cologne, Germany
Occupation: Senior citizen / retiree
Handicap: Amputation of left leg in 2005

REHACARE.de talked to the life-affirming pensioner Ottilie Bugge, about happiness, her desires and tears of affection.

REHACARE.de: What makes you get up in the morning?
Ottilie Bugge: To live a new day and to see what this day might bring.

REHACARE.de: What is your favorite place and why?
Ottilie Bugge: The Cologne Cathedral! Even as a very little girl, I always had to walk over the bridge. The Cathedral was the first thing I can consciously remember.

REHACARE.de: Who or what impresses you?
Ottilie Bugge: Everything that’s new impresses me.

REHACARE.de: What is your most valuable possession?
Ottilie Bugge: My curiosity for life, to see what is yet to come and my memories about the things I have experienced though all these years (all of my travels in the car, the train and on the plane)

REHACARE.de: What are you fed up with?
Ottilie Bugge: I am a completely satisfied person and very thankful, that I am still independent.

REHACARE.de: What makes you relax the most?
Ottilie Bugge: Laying on the couch and listening to quiet music.

REHACARE.de: What makes you happy?
Ottilie Bugge: My family and all my relatives.

 
Ottilie Bugge, aged 43 on this picture, with her first car - it was her pride and joy; © private

REHACARE.de: Name three things that make for a fulfilled life!
Ottilie Bugge: Mobility, curiosity, optimism

REHACARE.de: When was the last time you felt blown away by something?
Ottilie Bugge: On 07-29-2010 – we were evacuated because a bomb needed to be defused. Despite the awful weather (it was constantly raining) and the fact that there was a dangerous aircraft bomb not far away, everything went very smoothly. And even though they were working all day, the helpers were still nice, friendly and smiled at the end of the day. This moved me to tears.

REHACARE.de: When was the last time you felt like hiding from something?
Ottilie Bugge: When my leg was amputated in 2005. I did not dare to go home.

REHACARE.de: What makes a person rich?
Ottilie Bugge: Health and living well.

REHACARE.de: What is your philosophy of life?
Ottilie Bugge: Contentment… that’s my motto.

Translated by Elena O'Meara.