I’ve been having difficulty quantifying my feelings and thoughts about being back in Chicago after 15 years of moving back to the place I once loved. I still don’t know how I should feel after all that’s happened to me from the age of 27 until the current age of 42.
At 27, I was in Houston, unhappy with how my life turned out. I liked being a field organizer, but it started to feel like a job at a certain point. I hated deploying to the same four to five places, calling uninterested people about what was happening. I was beginning to miss being in the Midwest. I missed having a semblance of a life like I did in Detroit. Besides the people I lived and worked with, I wanted to meet other people, get to know Houston and find out who I am outside of campaigning for a fringe candidate within the Democratic party. I started to lose my passion for intellectual work and looked for an opportunity to break out and make friends who weren’t approved by the so-called powers that be, even if they were former members.
Since moving back to Illinois in December 2009, I have returned to school and graduated with honors from the community college, reunited with my friends, became homeless, and joined an online writing group where I made some of the best friends I enjoy talking to. I’ve had a boyfriend or two. I met the guy who is my worthless baby daddy (unfortunately), had a kid, lost friends over some dumb shit like in high school years before, had cars, lost cars, currently going through bankruptcy and unemployment, and a host of other things I cannot say.
Life has been a roller-coaster during these 15 years. Now, I am working on returning to school to get my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (a significant piece of unfinished business in my forties). I am also diving deeper into content creation with YouTube, adding e-commerce to this site, writing a book, and learning how to create generational wealth for my daughter and her descendants.
2025 is going to look a lot different than years past. I want to do more and celebrate all my wins, even small ones. The following 15 years will see me traveling, owning a home, mastering SEO, and much more than I can imagine.
Vlogmas Day 4 is live, and I’ll see you on Day 5!
