The hands of Elias, Johan, Sireli and Ülle (from left to right).

ELIAS (1)

Tank uu Mommy.

JOHAN (6)

It feels like my little brother birth happened just in a day — as he was born only yesterday! For example, when my little brother isn’t home and we are, it feels like… like he is crying all the time! The big brother takes care of the little brother. It’s nice for the little brother because he doesn’t know human language yet. He speaks babble..

I like to sing, but I haven’t performed yet. Performing is when there’s a big stage. I know one. I want to become a YouTuber.

SIRELI (39)

I’ve always felt the need to stay active — a kind of restlessness, a need to keep moving forward. Even as a child, I loved performing and singing. I tried everything I could and always wanted to know what lay beyond. One of my dreams was to leave my tiny, safe home village and discover the wider world. Like a restless soul.

Standing still feels heavy to me. I constantly want to push myself further and set new challenges. There’s always a desire to see what I haven’t seen yet and do what I haven’t done before. To remain myself — unclassified — and to preserve both my own individuality and that of others. For me, this is deeply connected to the question of what I want to do with my life.

My dream is universal, colorful, and grand: the kind of life my children will live. A life that is beautiful, cherished, and safe. In many ways, that dream reflects back on me — it is also the life I live.

ÜLLE (64)

I was ten years old when I read about a place called the Canary Islands. I was captivated by the thought of how beautiful a land with such a magical name must be. I flipped through pages searching for other beautiful places with magical names. Paris, London, and Madrid caught my attention, but none of them could compare to the Canary Islands. For years, I dreamed of going there.

Now I’m 60 and have traveled a lot, yet I’ve never made it to the Canaries. These days, the names that sound most beautiful to me are Tallinn and Estonia. Whenever someone asks where I’m from, I answer with pride.

I hope there’s a child somewhere dreaming about a place with a beautiful name like Tallinn or Estonia.