From the moment I stepped foot in Chicago I knew this was “my” city. It was like I’d been walking the earth missing this little piece of myself and I found it when I found Chicago. As a little girl, “home” was a foreign concept. Something other people had. I could only observe from the outside. But Chicago made that word finally feel familiar to me. So on 2/22/22....after four of the most stressful months of my life, I purchased my first home in the city that changed my life. The same young woman who moved here after law school with no money, no job, but infinite determination. Yet here I was taking this huge step. One that as a Black woman, I wouldn’t have legally been allowed to do just 54 years ago. And I did it with a Black realtor (@jb.dotdot) and a Black, female law firm (@kmrlawgroup) in my corner. Emotionally, this process was HARD. But honestly the hardest part was not having you guys along for the ride with me. It genuinely felt like keeping the biggest secret of my life from the people who mean the most to me. (I actually didn’t realize just how much.) But I knew I had to go this one solo. I had to really embrace the inner work of pushing past my self-doubt and trusting I could do it instead of relying on someone else to tell me I could. Soon I’ll bring you all inside, but that first day had to be just me. Me and that (forever) inner foster kid who never had her own bed. Or her own room. Much less a feeling of ‘home’. It was our moment. But as I stood looking around the room—which still shows slight signs of the previous owner, but finally starting to feel like mine—I could only smile and whisper out loud... “Baby Blake, we did it. We’re home.” 🏠🤎