Personal Stories
Tea, Twins, and a Thousand Stories
Hello, my dear reader. It’s time to talk about Natalie, an actress who once performed on a Moscow stage now gathers blueberries in Estonian forests, talks about mummies and Harry Potter with her son, and learns the quiet art of sauna evenings.
Natalie and Daniel greeted us outside. Their house was full of life — kids, toys, laughter spilling from the windows. So they led us across the garden to Daniel’s mother’s home, a quieter place to talk.
Or so we thought.
Because not long after we stepped inside, their eldest, Sami, appeared wide-eyed, serious, and curious. “Who are you? Why is my mom here?” he asked, studying us carefully. We told him we were there to interview her, to make her “more popular.” He thought for a moment, nodded, and left with his dad, not without promising to come back and check later.
And just like that, the ice melted. It didn’t feel like an interview anymore. It felt like being welcomed into a family.
The house smelled of wood and herbal tea. On the table — steaming mugs, golden honey, small sweets.
Her husband was ill that day, and the oranges we’d brought went to him — a small gesture of care in return. We poured tea with their honey and talked about how natural life feels here. “That’s what I love about Estonia,” Natalie said. “Everything is simple and real. In Toronto, you can find that too, but you have to search — in small shops, local markets. Here, it’s just life.”
She laughed easily, talking about her days, about motherhood’s “clingy” stage, when even going to the bathroom alone feels like a mission, and how coffee has become her loyal companion. She wasn’t performing. She was just talking — open, honest, human.
She told us she’d lived in Toronto for many years, but the last seven on Vancouver Island. “It’s wild and green there — ocean, forest, mountains. In some ways, it reminds me of Estonia. Just with more height,” she laughed.
We spoke about forests and what she’s learned to love in them. “I adore chanterelles,” she said. “I’m still not brave enough to pick them alone, but I buy them from the little roadside stands in summer. They taste like sunshine.”
And berries. “I love picking them,” she smiled. “Especially blueberries. I freeze them for smoothies. It’s simple, but it feels like keeping a piece of summer for the winter.”
For Natalie Krill Kannimäe, life in Estonia is more than calm nature and family support, it’s also language.
“It’s very important to Daniel that the children speak Estonian,” she said. He speaks only Estonian with them, and it’s paying off — Sami understands everything.
“I’ve had my Estonian passport since 2007, but I always felt like an imposter because I didn’t speak the language. I want to talk to my kids, to family here. It would make me proud.”
Her roots, however, stretch further — Swedish, Polish, Siberian, and Ukrainian. From her father’s side came food and traditions: pierogies, cabbage rolls, sweet berry dumplings with sour cream. “Food was always love,” she said. Saskatchewan, where she grew up, was full of Ukrainians — farmers, big families, long tables, endless laughter.
Then came the story of her great-grandmother, Pollyanna and everything in the room seemed to quiet down.
“She was widowed very young,” Natalie began, her voice soft but steady. “She had a small child, no money, no future in Ukraine. A priest told her about a widower in Canada looking for a wife. It sounded like a rescue. So she said yes.”
Two months at sea. No map, no phone, just faith. “They didn’t even know exactly where they were going,” Natalie said. “She came with one suitcase, a child, and hope. Can you imagine that kind of courage?”
When she arrived, reality was different. The man was much older and not kind. But Pollyanna stayed. She learned English from neighbours, took care of animals, raised her children. When her husband died, she took over the land and refused him a gravestone.
“That was her quiet revenge,” Natalie smiled. “Her way of saying, I survived you.”
She paused for a moment, eyes glinting between laughter and awe. “I think about her often. Her strength was complicated — not pretty, not polite. But it was real. Maybe that’s where I get it from.”
Natalie wrote a whole series about her.
„I wanted to give her a voice. To let her be more than a name on a family tree. Writing it felt like setting her free.”
Motherhood, she admits, has changed her pace. “When the twins were born, I resisted. I kept thinking, what about my career, my plans? Then, here in Estonia, I realized: this is the moment to surrender. To be here. To be with my kids.”
In Canada, she says, life always felt like a race. Estonia gave her permission to rest. “Here, people value health and balance. Even a sauna or a walk in the forest feels like medicine.”
She smiles when talking about sauna. “It’s become one of my favorite rituals. It’s not just about heat, it’s about slowing down, breathing, taking time for yourself. I’m learning from Estonians how to do that, how to actually stop.”
She misses the creative buzz of Toronto but has found a different rhythm.
“I’m an introvert. I need solitude, but also exchange. Right now, I’m raising little ones. But something’s growing inside me. It will come.”
Her artistic journey began with dance. At six, ballet became her safe space — a way to express what couldn’t be said. But the pressure was harsh.
Acting gave her freedom. “I feel most alive when I get to cry, rage, feel everything. That’s fulfilling.”
At eighteen, she moved to Toronto with sixty-three dollars and an agent’s name. The city was hard, small rooms, long days, but she kept going. Musicals, Moscow, teaching, films. Slowly, she built a career.
Now, her life is full of children. “The twins are huge little boys,” she laughed. “I carry them all day, my back hurts, but I wouldn’t trade it.”
Her playful side surfaces when Harry Potter comes up. “I’ve seen every movie too many times to count,” she said, grinning. Her son Sami already knows the characters. “Harry, Ron, Hermione, they’re part of our house.”
She laughs when she mentions her age. “I feel twenty inside. Playful, curious. I can’t believe I’m forty-two.”
Her love story with Daniel could be a film itself. They first met when she was twenty-three and he was a teenager. Their mothers were friends. Seven years later, she came back and saw him again. “I was walking with my mom and saw this handsome man. I asked who he was. She said, ‘That’s Daniel.’ And I thought — oh my goodness, Daniel grew up.”
Time and friendship turned into love. He moved to Canada. They married in 2019.
“And now — three children, all of a sudden,” she said, smiling with quiet wonder.
This summer, they moved to Estonia. Closer to family. Easier with small kids.
Sammy started kindergarten, and Natalie was touched. “In Canada, we often got negative feedback. Here, they see his energy as something good. They guide him, not scold him. It’s such a relief.”
She admires the safety too. “He can just go outside and play. In Canada, no child does that without a parent.”
Daniel, she says, is her partner in every sense: supportive, playful, present. “We’re not perfect, but we talk, we listen, we repair. That’s love.”
When she speaks about acting, her eyes light up again. “I’ll act again, but also write, direct, produce. The stories inside me will find their way. For now, I let them grow quietly, like children do when you’re not looking.”
Estonia, she says, gave her what she didn’t know she needed: silence, time, and belonging.
“I don’t feel like I’m missing out,” she said softly. “I’m building something, a family, a home, a future. The rest will come.”
In addition to her story, Natalie also shares with us a bedtime tale she has written for her son.
A little bedtime story for Sami
My 4 (almost 5) year old son Sami, loves stories, archeology, the Avengers, The Magic Treehouse book series and The Lost Treasures of Egypt Documentary. This is the bedtime (or anytime) story that has evolved over time with all these characters and of course Sami. It is an evolving story that takes new twists and turns as Sami directs it 🙂
(And when I tell it, I must do the British accent as does the narrator from Lost Treasures)
Welcome back to another episode of Lost Treasures of Egypt.
Sami and his crew are back in Luxor excited for another expedition to find more artifacts and discover lost tombs. First they go to their favourite club, Cabaret to have some food and see their friends Mohassib and Sabrina the belly dancer.
When they get to the club they are greeted at the door by Mohassib. “Sami, my old friend! So good to see you back in Luxor! Would you like your same table down by the stage?”
Sami says, “Oh yes, please! And we would like some cheeseburgers and french fries and of course some sugar plums and candy canes for dessert.”
“Absolutely my friend!” says Mohassib.
Sami and his crew sit down at their table and just then the lights dim and the show starts.
The drums begin to play and out come the belly dancers led by Sabrina. They put on a fantastic show.
As the show ends, one of the servers comes running to Sami.
“Sami! Sami! Mohassib has been kidnapped by some tomb raiders!!”
Sami says “Oh no! Ok we will get on this right away. First pack up our sugar plums for the road! Alright crew, let’s head to my invention (this is a great big vehicle/aircraft/spaceship/headquarters)!!”
Hulk says,”But Sami I didn’t finish my cheeseburger!”
Sami says, “Pack it up hulk, you can eat it in the control room while we scan the area for Mohassib”
So the crew all gets onto the invention and meet in the control room.
Sami says,”Ok, Jack, lets get the scanner going and see if Mohassib is nearby.
Jack gets the scanner going…beep beep beep beep! “Look at the computer Sami! There is Mohassib! Someone has him downtown in Luxor. “Jack says.
“Quick everyone, let’s go!” Sami says. They all get in their seats and Sami presses a button and the invention transforms into an airplane and they are downtown and no time at all.
They see a truck with a guy standing in front of it and he looks very nervous. Sami walks up to him.
“Hey there sir, what are you doing here?”
The man says, “Ohhhh h-h-h-elloo there. I am not doing nothing at all. Nope. I am just standing around.”
“Really?” Sami says. “So, there is no one in the back of this truck?”
Hulk peeks in the back of the truck and sees something wrapped up in a burlap sheet. “There’s something back here Sami!” Hulk says.
Sami quickly jumps in the back of the truck and starts unwrapping the sheet. It’s Mohassib!!
“Oh thank you my friend Sami” Mohassib exclaims.
Sami says, “Let’s take this guy to jail!”
“But I didn’t do it! I am just the lookout! It was the tomb raider gang!” says the guy.
“Well, I guess our quest continues!” Sami says.
The Story is never ending! They search for lost tombs of ancient Pharoahs and of course this tomb raider gang. 🙂