Look How Far We've Come: The Edwards Table Turns One

This month is all about celebrating milestones! The Edwards Table Podcast turns one year old, Amy celebrates another trip around the sun, and together we take a moment to reflect on the blessings found in growth, perseverance, and gratitude.

In this special episode, Amy shares how thankful she is for her daughter, Maddie, and the incredible journey she has been on. From graduating college with high honors to making the most of every opportunity through hard work and determination, Maddie's story is a beautiful reminder that dedication and perseverance matter.

Amy also reflects on her own journey of launching and hosting The Edwards Table Podcast. What started as an idea became a year of showing up, learning, stretching, and continuing to move forward, even when it felt challenging. This episode is a celebration of milestones both big and small and an encouragement to pause, give thanks, and recognize just how far you've come.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, I'm Amy Edwards, and welcome to the Edwards Table. This podcast is all about real conversations. The kind that come from life, love, family, friendship, and all the messy, beautiful parts in between. I started this show because I believe in redemption stories and in sitting down together to talk about the things that shape us, heal us, and sometimes just make us laugh. So grab a seat, take a breath, and join me. Because there's always room for you here at the Edwards Table. Well, hey y'all, and welcome to this week's episode of the Edwards Table. My name is Amy Edwards. I am beyond excited to have you guys joining me this week. Um, if you're new here, welcome, glad to have you. If you've been here, you're my why. You're why I show up every single Wednesday with a little new content to share. And I just wanted to start off this episode with exciting news. I cannot believe we're already here. And um if you don't know, this episode or excuse me, this podcast launched July 22nd or 3rd. Oh no, it was, it was actually on the 23rd and uh of 2025. So this month of July, we are gonna celebrate our one-year anniversary. Uh, we will have put out 52 episodes, which is insanity, and um we will celebrate two seasons worth of content. So season one is me actually at my table with my daughter Maddie. And um that whole season, all I do is tell my story to her. And then in season two, I bring uh my husband John comes in a little bit early on in the season, and then really and truly the rest of the season have been focusing on just my healing journey. Like, if you've heard my story, there's just so much there in terms of um just trauma, abuse, all kinds of not great fun things to be talking about, but then woven in are a lot of really amazing things, and just kind of sharing, you know, my journey so far after making 51 trips around the the sun, uh, what that's looked like for me, and how how in the world have I survived what I've survived. And so um it's been a learning experience. And so this whole month of July, all of what this content is going to be around is celebrating, celebrating our one-year anniversary, celebrating all the wins, all the lessons, celebrating all the things that this podcast has meant, not only to me, but to others of you out there listening, and um and then talking about what in the world is coming next. We've got a season three already in the works, and so there's tons to talk about. So I'm gonna break it out over the next couple of weeks and celebrate some things and share some really fun things and then also tell you some exciting updates of what's to come. So if you're not watching, if you're listening, uh you see what I have on. If you're listening, I'll share. Um, I have on a purple t-shirt and it says Abilene Christian across the chest. In celebrating, I'm all about like wear something fun, you know, like all of those kinds of things. And so uh today, and what I'm kind of talking about, the why behind me wearing this t-shirt is multifaceted. So our baby girl, our daughter, Maddie, who was on season one with me, um, she actually is an alumni of Abilene Christian, and she did amazing things there. Um she excuse me went into her college career early. So here in Texas, we have a school model, which it's around the country. I don't know if it's in your area, but it is the early college high school layout of things. And what they do is they partner with community colleges and students are at the same time participating in high school and college courses. Now, what she did was by going to early college high school, she was able to graduate with an associate's degree and her high school diploma. So that when she went off to college for four-year university, she actually only had to go for two and a half. And so she went and she did her time at Abilene Christian and was exceptionally successful as a student. She had the privilege of going and studying abroad for a semester and got to go study over in Oxford, England. Um, and being an English major and a huge Brit lit fan and all the things, that was like a dream come true. Um, and she did an amazing job. Like she worked really hard and she made very good grades. She um graduated with the highest honors and just remarkable what she did on her own, um, especially going off to college, you know. I mean, not knocking high school because she did excellent there as well, but like balancing in high school, at least she had John and I there constantly. Like we were there every single day. Well, I was, he was traveling, but you get the idea, right? Like she always had access to one or both of us. Uh, whereas in college, she went away and was on her own. And yes, we were a phone call away, but also it's very different when you're in a different environment and you're living on your own and whatever else. And so um if you ever get John or I talking about her uh academic career and just how proud we are of her, it's not just that she went to college and made good grades, like it's not that at all. Maddie is someone who has to work a whole, whole, whole, whole lot to make those kinds of dreams come true. And not because she's not bright, because she's exceptionally bright, um, just the way that her learning style is intense. It's it takes a lot for her to dig in and really and really do that. And so um the amount of work and effort that she put in, the sacrifices that she made, knowing what she was sacrificing on the front end, uh, we could not be more pleased for her to be able to do that. And I think part of my pride, like if you've listened to my story early on about my maternal grandmother and how much she meant to me, and just her her whole life was incredible. Um, she was someone who went to finishing school and taught in a one-room schoolhouse. And then uh when she and my grandpa married, she continued to work. Even as she had children, she still worked full-time. Um, I never knew my grandmother not working until she retired. And so um she was very much an anomaly for her era. That was not common that women who had children were staying at home. I mean, there were some that were um working, but typically women who had children were staying at home. And so I was always enamored by my my grandmother. Um my mom did not have the opportunity to go to college, and so I was actually the first generation in my family to have that opportunity, and I did go to college and I did graduate uh with a bachelor's in education, and so for me, having children have the opportunity to go to college was very important, and so it was for John as well, and so like for Maddie to have not only had the opportunity but to take such advantage of what she was given and truly worked so hard to achieve her goals and her dreams for that is incredible, and I think what is beautiful to see is even though she got out of college, she graduated in the middle of the year, so in December, so it's kind of a wonky time, you know, looking for jobs, and also AI not helpful for English majors, makes it a little tricky. Um, but she's a very gifted writer, and so I think the why behind me sharing all of this with you all today, in terms of like where we're landing after a year, is a year ago, right? Um, she had only just graduated a few months prior when we started talking about doing this podcast, and um she had a lot to consider before she came on. Um, you know, I tell a lot of things about myself that not everyone who is a part of this journey um loves me necessarily sharing. And um some of those people are very close to us and again totally understand and absolutely respect people's opinions. Um, however, when I'm sharing my story, it's truly, and I prayerfully and hopefully am successful at this, but it's never about me tattling on people or wanting to make people look bad. It it truly is sharing from my perspective my story, right? Childhood all the way through adulthood. Um, and I hesitate to share a whole lot about my kids because those are their stories to share. And unless they come on the podcast, I don't I don't typically share their stuff. So um I think just looking back at this year and seeing how Maddie uh started her own business and um as a side hustle, got a job at a restaurant and is able to save a great amount of money. And so like she's doing really, really well in terms of that. Um, but also she longs for what we jokingly call her big girl job, um, and whatever that looks like. And so it's very interesting, interesting from mine and John's perspective because like when we were growing up, our parents' generation always said, like, if you don't go to college, you're a loser, pretty much. Like if you don't go to college and graduate, you'll never amount to anything, you'll never have the good jobs. And that's unfortunate because there's so much out there that actually, yes, you can, and no, you don't have to have that. And so um anyway, I just felt like celebrating just that piece of my story of being able to be a mom of grown children and to be able to look at my daughter and see the years that she put in at school. Um, and I will tell y'all, I hope she didn't get upset. I can cut this if she does. Uh I'll ask before I put this out here, but um, I can tell you for Mighty, math is a subject much like for me. It takes a while for it to click in our mind. And so um it's not common for us to catch on the first go-round. Like we're gonna have to practice it a few times to get the skill down. And then once we have it, we're good. Um here in Texas, they do this thing, or they did, I don't know if they still do, but they did this thing called think through math. It is the biggest joke ever. Um trying to get kids to understand the why behind kind of the behind the scenes of math instead of formulas and times tables and math facts, uh, were not focused on. What was focused on was how do we arrive at an answer, but not necessarily giving a formula for it. And so for someone like Maddie and me both, like that does not jive. We are not cool with that. Just give us a formula, tell us why we have to use it, and then we'll do it, right? So knowing how hard she had to work in high school, especially, because she was an English major in college, she didn't really have to work that hard in math, but in in high school she did, you know, there's general ed uh requirements, and she had to limp through uh algebra one and two and geometry, and I think she did pre-calculus because of the program she was in, she had to do like I don't know, math every year. She may have been done stats. I can't honestly, y'all, we made it through. Blessings. Um and so it's just something that I love to celebrate because over these past 12 months that she's been around and and with me and and whatnot, um to see her and to be on this journey with her has been super cool. It's been super fun as her mom. Um I love a mom and daughter adult relationship that she and I have. It's super fun. Like we have a really good time together. Um and we have some really, really good talks and things like that. And so uh I just wanted to, yeah, kind of give her a little shout out and celebrate what I've been able to kind of sit back and witness in her this year, um, and her courage to come on this podcast uh for 12 episodes. This was asking her really and truly to be a fish out of water. This is very much not her thing. Uh, she's totally cool with doing musical theater on a stage, but that's not being recorded. Uh this kind of a situation is more on the interwebs for all eternity, apparently. And um albeit it can be a really good thing, but it can also be a hard thing. Not everybody loves that I share my story, like I said, and so um the courage that it took for her, I'm super proud of what she's done along the way. Um, and just her willingness to like jump in here and and just be a good listener and and hang with me and whatnot. But I um I also wanted to say that the other part to her story is I I told y'all earlier on that we were gonna talk about over these next few weeks, like celebrating all these things, learning things, wins, all the things, right? But then also there will be a season three. And in season three, we're actually gonna go back over to my table and there will be guests coming to join us. And um because you all know how much I appreciate stories, um, and I love to be able to sit down and hear other people's stories. I know people that are amazing humans, they don't see themselves in that light, but um, I'm working on getting them here to the table. And Maddie is definitely one of those. So definitely stay tuned when we launch that season three in August because it is coming. Um, but then the other thing I wanted to celebrate today, so hooray for Maddie, girl power, love my baby girl. Um, love that she's been part of this podcast with me. She was who helped me start this um last spring when we were envisioning what this could look like, and uh she helped me narrow down our logo, our color palette, and um all of that good fun, and then obviously joined me for 12 episodes. So super cool experience. Definitely would highly recommend it if you and your your adult child are wanting to have a podcast. Definitely go do it, super fun. Um, but then the other thing I wanted to talk about was the celebrating of continually moving ahead on this podcast. I have to be really honest with you all, it is a struggle for me. And I was reading back up on this again. So I did a personality test years ago called the Myers Briggs. If you're not familiar, um it's similar to others out there. You answer this eternally long questionnaire, and from that it categorizes your personality. And there are four components to a Myers Briggs personality with like you might be one of the they do it by letters, and so you might be one letter, but you might be leaning a little bit more the other way, kind of a thing, and they explain all of it. Well, when you finish, they give you this gigantic packet of a handout, and um it's almost frightening how spot on it is for me, the one that that I am, which is I am an INFJ. And an INFJ is the most unusual of the different compilation of letters you can be. It's um out of all the people that ever do these tests, it's a one to two percent. That's it. And what's hilarious is Maddie has had to do these two for work or school or whatever, and she's done Myersburg's as well, and she is also an INFJ. With that, it is imperative for us to feel like whatever we're doing in terms of work um or activity, that it is purpose-driven. We are not pat-on-the-back people, uh, we are not people that need front-of-the-room recognition, we don't need a star chart, we don't need cookies celebrating all the things. In fact, we shrink at that. We don't like to be the center of attention when it comes to praise. We don't mind being up on the stage, like I said before, like she loves musical theater and and whatnot. Don't mind being up on the stage. I love getting up and sharing my story with hundreds or thousands of people. I'm more than happy. Shout out if you want me, holla. But but seriously, we don't mind that part. What we feel like we really just want to crawl under a rock is if you're you're trying to like celebrate us or make a big fuss out of what we're doing because we don't crave that kind of attention at all. Um, we can very much be behind the scenes people and be totally fine with that. Or if we need to be the front of the room, we can be that as well. But the, you know, pomp and circumstance and the hoo-haw and situation, we don't need all that. We're good. So for me, week in, week out, right? Like, um, depending on timing, you know, sometimes I'll record more than one podcast at a time. Um, this is a one-woman show in terms of behind the scenes. So, for instance, I do all of the recording, I do all of the video editing, I do all of you know, get it all up on all the different platforms so you all can listen or watch. I take care of all the social media, um, I attend to all of it. Anything to do with it, I'm your girl. And when I first started even considering doing this podcast at a friend's recommendation, like this wasn't my idea at all. In fact, if you've heard me tell this before, um, I literally had not listened to a podcast for enjoyment or entertainment. I had listened to one for work, so I was in tune with what we were talking about at work, but like I had never listened to another one outside of that at all. So I truly, when I say I didn't know what I was doing, literally, literally started at ground zero with nothing. And so I am beyond excited that I hung in there this whole year. Um, that on the days where I felt like nobody was really listening or nobody was really caring about what I was saying, I continually moved ahead. I did not quit, I did not skip out, I kept moving forward. And so for that reason, I am beyond excited and beyond proud of myself for hanging in there and for not quitting. Um, because out of this podcast, I have had, I don't even know how many conversations with some of you all about because I shared this part of my story, you feel like there's someone out there just like you that has gone through the same thing or something very similar. So you're not all by yourself in this. Or I've had people ask me, you know, Amy, when you went through like your miscarriage. So in between having um Quinn and Maddie, I I had a I was pregnant with one uh baby and and lost that that baby. And like after we had told Quinn he was gonna be a big brother and had started telling friends and family and and whatnot, um, but then had the privilege of having Maddie after, you know, and infertility is messy and hard, and whether it's you've never had the the experience of having a bio kiddo, or you have had a bio kiddo, but then you're unable to have another, or you've had some, but you you're unable to have another, it's it's I don't even know how to put words to it. It's just it is a wild journey that you have to go through of grief and loss and longing and uh spaces that feel empty and hard and whatnot. You know what I mean? So, like to be able to share. that and then to have people understand one you're not crazy like your feelings are your feelings that's just how you feel about the the situation right but two is is that you're not the only one to be going through this or that has gone through it you know um I think that's the cool thing about my generation we are much more willing to be open and share about ourselves about our mistakes and our failures our wins and our lessons and like we'll tell you we will tell you all the things because quite frankly we don't want to see you go down in a ball of flames we've already done that and had to reinvent ourselves or had to start from scratch or whatever the case may be we're very much the Phoenix right where we burst into flames turn into ashes and then we got to rise up again that's it's kind of Gen X for you um and so as we have raised you Gen Alpha maybe older millennials um or baby millennials I'm sorry we are aware of that you know and so for me personally I think it's just I'm so proud of myself which seems kind of silly to say out loud but like I really am proud of myself I stepped and completely into something that I knew nothing about and I certainly am not saying I'm doing it right by any stretch of the imagination um and I'm not um I'm not a super fancy pants kind of a person like materialistic and things like that. I want things to be done well I like a standard of excellence but I do not like perfectionism that I can't stand. And so you know if you watch me not necessarily do I have like the perfect hair and the perfect makeup and the perfect body and the perfect all the things I don't uh there are certain parts of me I could definitely be doing better on however um proud to be where I am saying yes showing up every week editing the videos finding ways to make interesting social media content um and just being able to speak on topics that all of us have experienced some of at some point in our lives most likely but much less likely to find people like us which is so sad because reality is everyone's got a story and everyone has gone through hard times or may be going through hard times you know um and so like it's just ridiculous that we don't do a better job of sharing with one another because feeling like I do I love being able to tell people my story. I don't mind telling you the embarrassing parts the shameful parts the parts that even now when I you know talk about things like my abortion I will still get teary there are times where emotion will definitely take me over and wash over me because that's something you know I will never be proud of that at all and if I could turn back time and and make better choices in that situation uh prayerfully I would reality is is I was given the chance and and the choice I made is what I made. And so from that I've had to learn to accept what I've done and forgive myself for making that decision um and be a willing sharer. And let me tell you the hardest thing in all of that I think even over forgiving myself because I I mean that was very difficult is the sharing of it and partly because of the forgiveness right like did I fully forgive myself probably not if I'm having a hard time sharing it. But now I don't have a hard time sharing it. I'm not embarrassed by it um I'm very passionate about like young women hearing what I have to share. And like I said if I could turn back the clock I definitely would hope that I would make a different decision. And I know for some of you that's hard to hear but I'm also a realist. I'm an optimistic realist. I like to think positively but I'm also realistic in how I think so I I would never be arrogant enough to say that if I were given the chance I would make a better choice given my circumstances and given where I was at that time in my life I think that was the decision I would always make and that's not an easy pill to swallow but hey here we are so yeah definitely today wanted to really talk about um just kind of starting this month off with two things that I am beyond proud of about this podcast. And first and foremost my daughter Maddie and what she has meant to me not only on this show but also outside of what you all get to see and experience. Love my girl love our relationship and am super excited to have her come join me again. But this time around I'll be asking questions and she'll be answering so you definitely want to stay tuned for the month of August. But then the second part that I wanted to celebrate today is the fact that I didn't quit I kept saying yes and keep saying yes and will keep saying yes. And I think what's beautiful is so all these years ago I think it's probably 25 years ago maybe a little longer hard to say but obviously a lot of years ago it was very evident to me that God wanted me to write my story. And at the time I wasn't in a headspace in my 20s where I could do that and do it well. And then into my 30s I started writing but then well two things happened one I got a new computer and deleted all my files if you hadn't heard that story back it up into season one and you will but the second part to it was I'd written five chapters and every time I would go to reread it I really just I did not like what I was reading. And so as conversation went on with my friend her recommendation was why don't you start with the podcast and then from that you could write your book and I didn't realize last year when she made this recommendation to do it that way just how important it was going to be for me to say yes. And I'm so thankful so thankful to her so Danielle if you're listening a big hugs to you my friend for just being a big cheerleader and encouraging me to take a really big what felt like a really big risky step in putting myself out there and putting my story out there for others to hear. I don't have a timeline don't have a publisher anything like that but um I do know that I'm meant to write it and I do know that it's meant to go down on some paper and so um I am working on that so I will keep you posted during season three of kind of how I'm trekking along and whatnot. And then I've got some other exciting things I'm not going to share everything today obviously I don't have enough time uh to tell you everything but just so much good stuff you all that has come out of this podcast. And um again if you have been a part of this journey at all I just I couldn't even begin to tell you how appreciative I am of you and your support uh for subscribing to this podcast listening to it following us on social media like I love it it is amazing and I'm so so so so grateful to you as my audience for joining me on this journey in the upcoming few weeks I've got some more fun things that we're gonna be talking about and celebrating um talk about some of my favorite parts of what I have shared and um yeah some other surprises I'm not telling you everything. Yeah you're gonna have to come back that's just it that is just it you're gonna have to so I thank you for joining me today and starting this celebration season with me y'all I told you when we're trying to move ahead in our in our healing process we have to celebrate absolutely have to and if you didn't know this when the podcast launched last year it was actually on my birthday and so that's another thing that we're celebrating this month is another trip around the sun which I'm very thankful for and I'm very excited to see what this year is going to bring. So in a few weeks I'll be celebrating my next birthday um which is crazy so crazy. In the meantime I hope you always remember there is a seat for you at this Edwards table no matter your journey where you are on it whether you're just beginning or you have made it to the other side of healing or you don't know where you are right now but you just need to listen to some Southern sassy gal say some things thankful for you and know that you've always got a seat here. Y'all have a great week ahead and we will see you next time