Laura Edwards

When she’s not teaching Easter Seals preschoolers, history buff Laura Edwards, 24, loves Civil War reenactments and front porchin’! Hungry at 4 a.m.? This Domestic Diva will whip up a mean spaghetti just like she did for Yo’ Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band!

Laura Edwards, you are cute, cute, cute, no doubt about it! DAR-LING! Tell us about your work at the Easter Seals Child Development Center!
I’m a preschool teacher. I take care of 14 children — 3 and 4 year olds. And at 2 p.m., I get six 2 year olds.

OMG, that’s a lot of little ones!
Some of the kids are with us from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., so they’re with us all day learning and growing. We help with their fine motor skills — zipping, buttoning, coloring — that sort of thing. And we refer kids if they need speech, behavioral or other types of therapies.

What do you love about it?
The hugs in the morning and afternoon. When I walk in the door, there’s three of them attached to me. They can’t say “Laura,” so they call me Miss Waah Waah.

Miss Waah Waah, how cute! Does working with kids make you want to have lots of your own?
There are days when I walk out for lunch and am pretty certain my tubes have tied themselves! But when you get those hugs, you realize it’s not so bad!

What’s the most challenging part?
Really? They’re four!

Hah! Good point! I love that your classes include typically developing kids and kids with special needs. Is that working?
It works pretty well. Kids do notice differences at a young age. So sometimes we have to explain that our special needs kids play just like you do. They eat just like you do. And just because someone’s smaller than you, that doesn’t mean she’s a baby — she’s just short.

We’re directing the children to be independent individuals. In the blended classroom, kids grow and learn from each other.

You all have a fundraiser coming up, too.
Yes, it’s our annual Heart & Soul Art Celebration, 6 p.m., Thursday, September 17 at Maiden Alley Cinema. There will be lots of great art to bid on! And we have our telethon in November.

Right on! I’ll be there! So you’re great with kids, but your background is in museums and history.
I have a degree in history and a minor in anthropological museum studies from Murray State. I’d love to work for a museum — I love anything cultural or historical. I’ve worked at the Tilghman Civil War Museum, and I helped with the Hotel Metropolitan. I pulled original trim and refurbished it, and I painted and set up the exhibits. Like any museum project, I loved seeing it come together.

What is it about history that you enjoy so much?
I think it’s important to always remember where you come from and where your ancestors come from. They got you here, so you should appreciate them.

Tell us about the historical reenactments you do with Justin Keeling, one of our favorite iDates.
I try to do it once a month. Our group is called Big Muddy Mess, and go all over — Ft. Massac, but also Tennessee, Virginal South Carolina, Missouri, Georgia. Wherever there’s a Civil War of a War of 1812 reenactment scheduled. You park your car miles away, you leave your cell phone in the trunk and you spend an entire weekend without electricity or running water. You just get to slow down.

You make your own outfits?
Yes, I sew my own dresses. I portray a laundress and cook. I spend many mornings preparing a period correct breakfast and re-sewing buttons on trousers. I love to be outdoors and I love history, so this is a perfect combination for me.

Would you have liked to live in that time period?
Yes. It’s so laid back and you’re not in a hurry. Everything you have is because you’ve done it. You eat because you’ve caught, grown and cooked your meal. You have light because you’ve made the candles. You can wash because you’ve made the soap.

You get a little taste of that living in Ms. Louise Randle’s beautiful old LowerTown home. What’s your connection to her?
I met Ms. Louise while doing historical reenactments. I knew her for 12 years. She would always throw parties and cater them. My favorite part was helping her in the kitchen.

We always discussed sewing and what she was working on next. She would tell me tricks of the trade, and I learned a lot from her before she passed away. She left the house to The Colonel, and I take care of it when he’s away.

LOVE The Colonel! Colonel Brent Dukes, yes?
Yes. They were great friends, and he was there to always help her garden and fix things around the house. 

But he’s not a real colonel.
He’s a Kentucky Colonel and a colonel in the Tennessee Valley Battalion.

Ah, good enough for me! You all have a great time there, don’t you?
We do. We’re always out front porchin’.

I’ve been hearing about that front porch!
Our front porch is the place to be on any given night! We play music and sit around visiting. It’s very much a step back in time! No matter what you’re doing here, you lose all time and you’re stuck in the moment. Once you’re on the porch, you may not leave until well after 3 a.m.!

And what’s this about your cooking spaghetti at 4 a.m.?
It was after the Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band played at the Lowertown Art & Music Festival. The Colonel invited them back to the house for front porchin’. Around 4 a.m., they said they were hungry. So I whipped up spaghetti and homemade meat sauce and I baked a batch of cookies.

Laura! That’s amazing!
That’s just what we do. I’m living my dream.

Even with the ghosts?
The house definitely has ghosts. We’ve heard breaking glass, and upon searching the house, have found no broken glass. The window blinds bang against the door, but there’s no draft or air vent. We hear footsteps and doors closing all the time when everyone is present and accounted for!

One morning there was a rose at the bottom of the stairs, but there were no roses in bloom or anywhere in the house.

It’s little things, but you know you aren’t alone.

I’d be a little nervous.
You get used to it.

I hear you all whooped it up during the ice storm.
We had so much fun. We’d get up, get everything ready for the day, we had a mystery pot on our gas grill filled with rice, sausage, ground beef — anything thawing from the freezer, we threw in. We cleaned the house, top to bottom. And at night, we blanketed off the living room, had lanterns and candles and we played board games and talked. We had real conversations. It was a blast!

You are probably the only ones having a blast during the ice storm! When did you realize your affinity for old-timey living?
From a young age. I loved Little House in the Prairie. And my Barbies took wagon trains in my brother’s Tonka truck.

OMG. Mine had a jet and a townhouse.
Well, mine had a Corvette, too.

She just went West?
Yeah, something like that!

Hah! So Miss Waah Waah, tell us about your love life and all your gentlemen callers. What kind of guy are you looking for.
Someone who’s not an ass.

Wow, Laura, tell us what you really think!
I’m just honest. A true man has ability to be a gentleman and be that rough, tough guy who can go out and build fences. I want someone who can sip brandy and smoke a pipe, but still chop wood. If you can chop wood for me, I’m in love. This area has a lot of great people. I’m just waiting to find the right one for me.

What’s your idea of a great date?
Food, preferably gelato, a stroll through a museum or art gallery, going hiking, something where you don’t have to do the typical dinner/movie scenario, although those are more than acceptable!

Right on! Are you involved in any non-profits besides Easter Seals?
My great aunt has Alzheimer’s, so the upcoming Memory Walk is kind of special.

Well Laura Edwards, you are DAR-LING! I can just see a Rhett Butler lookalike, striding up to Ms. Louise’s house to swoop you off your feet!
As long as he can chop wood, I’m open.

---