I feel like I’m missing something really obvious about Bitcoin

Okay, so this might be a slightly embarrassing question, but I’m a woman who has somehow spent the last few nights going down a Bitcoin rabbit hole and I still don’t understand how it actually works ????
I’ve read articles, watched beginner explanations, and even tried following some of the more technical explanations, but I keep getting to the same point where I understand all the individual words and somehow still don’t understand the actual process.
I understand that there are wallets, private keys, transactions, miners, nodes and the blockchain. What I don’t understand is how those things actually connect.
For example, if I have 0.1 BTC and send 0.05 BTC to someone:
● Where is my Bitcoin actually stored before I send it?
● What exactly happens when I press “send”?
● How does the network know that I’m allowed to spend it?
● Who checks that the transaction is legitimate?
● What actually changes on the blockchain?
● And where does the 0.05 BTC “go” afterwards?
The wallet part especially confuses me. People say your Bitcoin isn’t actually inside your wallet, which makes sense when it’s explained, but then I don’t quite understand what my wallet balance is actually representing.
I know these are probably very basic questions, but I’d rather actually understand the system than pretend I get it because I can repeat the terminology.
If anyone here is good at explaining technical things to someone who isn’t particularly technical, I’d genuinely appreciate it. And if you’re someone who enjoys explaining this stuff and wouldn’t mind answering a few very basic questions privately, I’m completely fine with that too.
Please be gentle with me lol. I promise I’ve tried to do my homework before coming here. ????