I first met Pam when our daughters played on the same volleyball team. She’s vibrant…full of life…laid back and ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS.
This mom of two teenaged daughters, Sarah and Jenna, has been married for 17 years to her partner-in-crime.
“He seriously is a great person. I’ve known him for about half my life and when I say he is my best friend, I really mean it. We pretty much do everything together.”
Pam and Shawn are a definite team…each one finishing the other’s sentences and fully supporting one another with a great many laughs and a healthy dose of sarcasm.
Knowing the family the bit I do…I can only imagine the commentary and humour in their home as a photo of Shawn went viral this summer!
Cst. Shawn Currie, with the Halifax Regional Police, was photographed giving a pretend ticket to a 3 year-old child. The photo took on a life of its own on social media reaching People, The Today Show, Huffington Post and Ellen to name a few…with some folks actually believing it was real! As if someone would really give a parking ticket to a child on a plastic motorcycle!
While Shawn has a rewarding career as a police officer and Pam worked for years at a local hotel…both with careers that kept them extremely busy…Pam chose to leave full-time work when her daughters started school and she was soon hit with the volunteering bug! From work in the classroom, organizing book fairs, time spent in the library, hours as a lunch monitor and a leader for Sparks and Brownies…Pam jumped two feet in to everything and anything she could do for her girls!
Once Sarah and Jenna found a passion in soccer and volleyball…she quickly found ways to help out with their teams and soon Shawn joined in…quite often, he as the coach and she as team manager. Their weekends and “vacations” are often taken up with tournaments and games…often grabbing a bite to eat in the car between work and activities…but always finding time to sit down for a family meal every Sunday to catch up and re-group.
Pam is 100% all about her family. She excels at chaos and admits that the house is always a disaster but the reality is, they’re often not getting home until well after supper or later. While Pam left full-time work to be home with her children, about 5 years ago while shopping at Sport Chek, the Assistant Manager joked that she spent so much time there she may as well work there…and the rest was history. Pam began working a day a week on cash until next thing she knew she was covering vacations and 3 years ago, she began working full-time in the clothing department keeping everyone on their toes with her winning personality!
To add to the chaos, recently the Currie family added a dog to the mix. Finley, a 5 month old Shepard mix was the kids idea as Pam was more inclined to want a hot tub! Now, whenever the dog does something he shouldn’t, Pam is quick to joke that “a hot tub wouldn’t do that” but don’t let her fool you, she’s pretty smitten about that little pup!
When not taking care of everyone else…Pam manages to fit in a bit of time with friends who are quick to remind her to take time for herself.
Selfless is one of the words that come to mind when describing Pam.
“I don’t get a lot of me time, but I’m ok with it. I know that the girls will be going off to university in a couple of years and then what am I going to do? But, I do love my Sunday mornings, there usually isn’t much going on so I enjoy staying in bed for a good portion of the morning reading and drinking my coffee. And, if I’m really lucky, maybe someone will make me breakfast in bed, which does happen every once in a while…I know lucky right!!”
But…if you ask her girls, Sarah would say she is “loving and 90% of the time puts their needs before her own” and Jenna would turn the tables and say that she herself was “kind and caring” which must mean her mother is amazing as she made her who she is. AGAIN…sarcasm reads through it all!
With Pam and Shawn the laughter runs deep…but bigger than that, is the communication. Both believing that while parenting can be hard at times, they always want the girls to feel like they have someone on their side and when the going gets tough…the Curries stick together.
Being a busy mom, working full-time, raising a family, chasing a new pup, volunteering whenever and wherever she can…Pam says simply…
“I’m not sure what I thought life would be like…but I know I am loving my life. I have the most amazing husband and kids! I can’t image being anywhere else.”
Disclaimer: As a Brand Ambassador for O’Regan’s KIA Dartmouth, I’m happy to celebrate women each month in the #KIAWorkingMom posts. Follow KIA Dartmouth on Twitter for all of the latest news and to see what they’re doing in the community. To read more posts about inspiring women, click in the#KIAWorkingMom link.