Eddie Sheerr and his wife Susan open up on family life, what they love about one another, and what they adore about this place their little family is proud to call home

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Eddie Sheerr and his wife Susan are nothing if not adorable. Lovingly teasing one another as they enthusiastically embrace a little ‘adults only’ time as Emily enjoys some grandma attention at home, the two obviously are still crazy for one another.

“I love his quirkiness”

Susan jokes, ‘‘…come on, there must be something,’’ as her husband stalls, only for the briefest of seconds, when asked what it is he loves most about his darling wife. Not to worry. Both have glowingly delightful things to say abut one another once the flood gates open. From how they compliment one another around the home – he cooks, she enjoys laundry – to how each is simply the most caring, most giving, and certainly the best parent possible to their darling daughter, Emily.  What’s most precious, perhaps, is how much fun they seem to have when together. ‘‘I love his quirkiness,’’ Susan offers with a smile. 

‘‘And to see how much fun he has with kids? Watching him around children, well, I wonder who is the biggest kid sometimes. I can’t wait to see him interact with Emily as she gets older. I’m not sure who’ll have the most fun.’’

Eddie laughs. He’s also quick to compliment his wife.  ‘‘I think I fell in love with her sense of humour first. She got me, and my jokes. Besides being the most caring person I’ve ever met, she’s also the most fun,’’ he says.

The go-to weather guy

Seeing how Eddie is this province’s go-to weather guy as NTV’s Chef Meteorologist, and considering the type of weather we have around these parts, it’s a darn good thing the two are always up for a laugh.

‘‘We try to embrace winter as much as possible. Susan loves to skate, and I do too, but Emily is a bit young for that yet. But we have had her out in the snow and she seemed to like that.’’ 

The two look at pictures on their phone of Emily enjoying a snow day. The kid is all smiles. ‘‘At least she doesn’t seem to not like it, right?,’’ he adds, laughing. 

Emily, who turns one on May 15th, seems content with just about anything, including daddy’s very busy schedule. 

From his love of all-things weather to his enthusiasm for rowing, Eddie has embraced this province and all it entails. Even the music. 

“I sometimes joke that Eddie is more of a Newfoundlander than I am. I wake up on the weekend, and Jigs and Reels is all I hear, from the moment it starts, until the moment it’s over. And when it comes to traditional food? He loves it all, or at least will try anything.’’

Eddie pipes up. ‘‘I don’t like pease pudding…’’ They laugh.

But, this story isn’t about what he doesn’t like, it’s about what they love, he’s reminded gently. They laugh. He loves weather, Susan offers. In fact, she says, he’s consumed with it at times.

‘‘Especially this time of year, it’s busy and exciting, and I know that. And I accept it. But when he’s available, he’s available and he’s there. He’s with Emily. He’s with me. And we know we’re a priority for him,’’ she says, But when bad weather or storm clouds loom, things can change. 

Take snowmageddon, for example, or the storm that hit over Christmas  

‘‘I always feel pressure to get a forecast right. But when a potential storm can have a huge impact on people’s plans, like over Christmas, there’s more pressure and I take it very seriously.’’

Historic storm

We have to ask about the historic dumping of snow the Avalon received in January. Eddie says he knew it was going to be huge as he was watching days before it struck. 

‘‘I can look at a map and kind of picture what the weather is going to be like, and I thought that I had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be like with that one. But it even blew my mind. This was the most powerful winter storm I’ve ever seen in my life. My Uncle put it this way, saying, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for a storm like that’, and he wasn’t wrong.’’ 

 The couple, who celebrated their wedding anniversary on December 30th, talk about the storm and its impact. It was stressful on the young family, particularly because, as the entire city shut down, Eddie suddenly became one of this country’s most sought after men of the hour. 

Besides keeping Newfoundlanders informed prior to, and during the storm on NTV’s various news programs, he was also providing commentary to CTV and giving constant updates online. 

Eddie has quite the yarn to share about getting into work the Friday of the storm.

‘‘Even I didn’t think driving would be as bad as it was, but by 11 that day, I knew it was going to be tough to get to the station,’’ he says.

NTV Evening snow hour

Eddie knew how important it was to be on air for both NTV’s First Edition and the NTV Evening News Hour.

There was talk about him snowshoeing in so far, as there was no way in or off his street. A truck, with a plow on it, got stuck. Finally, a bigger rig was called in and Eddie had one exciting, but harrowing, drive into work. 

 ‘‘I’ve never seen snow that high. It was incredible. And, I got in, and everything was fine, but knew I had to get back home because I didn’t want to leave Susan and Emily home alone during the most powerful storm we’ve every had, with winds and snow and the possibility of power outages. Well, the drive home was interesting, let’s say that,’’ he says with a sideways glance at his wife. 

Long story short, he adds, they got me back. ‘‘I got home. I had to crawl into the house on my hands and knees because the snow was so high, you couldn’t walk in it or over it. We got nearly 100 cm of snow. It was pretty incredible.’’

Susan is all smiles. ‘‘He loves weather. He loves interacting with people about the weather. When it comes to Eddie, the meteorologist, I don’t mind sharing him with everyone. But at home, he’s just Eddie, and just like every other husband, he gets in trouble when he doesn’t do his chores.’’ They laugh. 

THIS Place called Home

The two obviously have a love for one another, but something else that stands out is a love of this place they call home.

Eddie obviously adores this province and its people. ‘‘Newfoundlanders are unique. I guess I’ll always be considered a ‘come from away’ but to me this is home. You really saw the values of Newfoundlanders during this storm. There were literally mountains of snow, yet all you saw was the sense of togetherness and community. Hardworking people coming together to help one another and actually enjoying this weather disaster. I mean, what’s not to love about that?’’
  Eddie says he was proud watching  neighbourhoods and communities come together in a time of crisis. ‘‘People helping dig each other out and really working together to get through what was actually a natural disaster. What a testament to who Newfoundlanders are.’’

He admits that this most recent storm has changed his perception of weather reporting. ‘‘I was talking about snowfall accumulations and about wind gusts, but while I was thinking about power outages it never occurred to me the aftermath of dealing with so much snow. The airport shut down for a week. School’s were closed for over a week. The state of Emergency. These are huge impacts, from weather.’’

He admits sometimes the weight of his work can become heavy. There’s so much responsibility, he shares candidly. That’s when having a good partner comes in handy and is so important, he adds sincerely.

‘‘Susan takes care of Emily. Of me. Of the home. I couldn’t do what I do without her love and support and understanding,’’ he says. 

He says while his job might seem important, in his eyes, the work she does each and every day far exceeds his own. ‘‘I tip my hat to her, and other moms like her, every day. I’m able to be committed to my job, because she is so dedicated. Being a parent is a far, far more difficult, time consuming, energy taking job than anything I do.’’

Susan glows. ‘‘I don’t know if what I do is much more difficult than what he does, though I certainly appreciate that he’s appreciative. I think we work well because we just lean on each other. And we do what we have to do to get through things.’’ 

Back to the ‘what do you love about one another’ question.

Eddie makes Susan coffee each day. And he makes her life’s load lighter.

‘‘I love that he makes me laugh with his carefree attitude. I love that he loves to cook, because I don’t. He knew that going in.  He makes sure that I eat because he knows that I don’t have the time to feed myself sometimes, so  that’s a priority for him. And, on his way home, he’ll always say, ‘is there anything you need me to pick up?’ Small things like that mean so much.’’

The thing I love the most

 Eddie pauses, a little too long, which leads to some fun joking back and forth. Eddie jokes he loves her sweatshirt, for one. Then, he gets serious. 

‘‘The thing I love most about Susan is that she thinks I do so much for her, but I know it’s really her who carries the biggest load at times.’’

From taking care of Emily, and their cat Denver, she’s the real deal, he says.

‘‘You’re very empathetic and you’re very caring. And I think that really shines through because without you, I don’t know if I’d still be in Newfoundland at this point. You care about me and for me and you take care of Emily and you take care of Denver and you keep everything in order and everything in check. And I can’t think what things  without you would be like.’’

Once he starts, the flood gates of gushy love are burst wide open.

‘‘You  keep me grounded and you’re helping me become a better person by helping me be less manish.’’

They laugh. Manish? ‘‘Yeah. She calms me. She centers me. She gives me a broader perspective of the world.’’

Susan smiles, before demonstrating exactly why this beautiful union works so well. ‘‘And you’re not all that bad yourself.’’