Family counts its blessings

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2024 (513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thanksgiving Day was also family photo day in Brandon for Chelsea Zaliska, her husband Vasyl Zaliskyy and their two children — Levi, a four-year-old boy, and Rowa, a two-year-old girl.

The four were all smiles as they sat on a picnic blanket among the leaves near a walking path along 34th Street in the city’s west end.

It was “especially poignant,” Vasyl Zaliskyy said, as he looked at his wife and children’s faces.

He was born in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in the western part of Ukraine and has been in the Wheat City since 2006.

“I’m a first-generation immigrant to Canada,” Zaliskyy said. “And as cheesy as it sounds, I feel like I won the lottery in life,” Zaliskyy said.

“Everybody’s stoic in post-U.S.S.R., people don’t smile for pictures, people don’t say hello on the street. You just put your head down and mind your business.

“Here, everybody’s very chatty, friendly and wanting to engage in conversation to see how you’re doing.”

Zaliskyy’s father came to Brandon in 2004, to “work at Maple Leaf,” and he, his mom and two brothers emigrated two years later.

He laughed as he remembered the day they drove from Winnipeg to Brandon, and how he immediately felt at ease.

“It was getting late in the evening and as we drove, my dad starts waving at everybody on the highway, and they’re waving back. And I was like, how do you know all these people? He just said, ‘oh, that’s just what you do here.’ I couldn’t believe it.

“Even when you’re out for a walk, everybody’s smiling at you and saying hello,” he said.

Zaliskyy met his now-wife, Chelsea Zaliska — a fifth-generation Ukrainian immigrant — while they were students at Brandon University.

Zaliska said they “just crossed paths.”

“He was leaving his psychology class, and I was going into mine,” she said. “So, we met in 2013 and were married in 2019. And we even dated long-distance while I was getting my degree at the University of Regina, and now I am an evening instructor at Assiniboine College,” said Zaliska.

Zaliska said the Thanksgiving Day photo shoot was her idea, and since it involved family, she decided to include her cousin, Paige Yanchycki.

As Yanchycki crouched to focus and snap the photos, she said that her cousin Zaliska sent her a text message the day before to request the shoot, for a photo they’ll use as their Christmas card.

“I’m grateful to see these guys on Thanksgiving,” Yanchycki said. “And I’m thankful for the sun, and the spot here is beautiful, it’s a lovely time of year to take photos.

“They come here to ride their bikes, and Vasyl’s mom and dad live in this area, so it’s really nice,” she said.

Zaliskyy said he has additional family members still in Ukraine. Most are not living near the front lines, but he has some relatives in Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine.

“I’m thankful all year round, and grateful to be here,” he said. “Especially with the full-scale invasion from Russia over the last two and bit years, even though it started in 2014, and it’s been a century long battle.

“So, I’m grateful that everybody’s healthy and that I have my immediate family here, but always with thoughts and prayers for everybody back home,” he said.

It has been more than two years since the couple have been able to visit Ukraine, said Zaliska.

“But we’ve been lucky to have some of Vasyl’s family come to visit us here, and so he’s had some of his aunties and his uncle visit within the last year,” she said.

“And for today? I’m thankful that the weather has held up for us as long as it has, and we’ve been able to enjoy lots of outdoor time with the kids,” Zaliska said.

As the family packed up from the pop-up photo shoot, she said it’s even warm enough to take the kids out and start looking for Halloween decorations.

Holding hands as they walked down the main path on 34th Street, Brandon couple Donna and Gil Hawkins smiled as they passed by the group.

“We’re walking off our Thanksgiving dinner from the weekend,” Gil said as he laughed. “We’re lucky that our kids and grandkids live close by, so we’re thankful about that and the nice weather.”

A few blocks away, nine-year-old Hunter Urquhart is raking leaves into two big piles, while his seven-year-old sister Austin watched.

“It was mostly him doing all the work,” she said.

Kim Urquhart, the kids’ mom, said it’s nice to watch them play and get along. She’s originally from Alberta, while most of her husband’s family is from Manitoba.

“It’s awesome. I’m thankful that they’re happy, and thankful for our healthy family,” she said.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» X: @enviromichele