nadj

in 1998 xtie and i ran the very first san diego rock n roll marathon. ok, run is a bit of a stretch, but we finished it. xtie trained and would have done really well, but lucky for me, who did most of my training runs after drinking a beer or two, she got a stress fracture which slowed her down. we were able to do the race together, which was what we wanted to do in the first place. i felt bad that she got the stress fracture since i knew she would have done really well, but at the same time, i was happy to have her to spend those many many hours with me. :)
a few weeks before we left to go to the race i went to seattle humane society in bellevue and picked up a tiny black purr machine. i called her kitty for those first few weeks until i figured a name for her, and she just purred and purred. she was a flea magnet since my capitol hill basement apartment was flea infested and after her arrival, the fleas left me alone. every night i would comb through her hair getting rid of fleas and i gave her bath after bath. i also fea bombed that appartment hundreds of times and finally got some super toxic, super expensive flea spray from the vets and that took care of the situation. totally gross, the whole thing was.
after the race, at the awards or somewhere, they announced the winner of the women's marathon - Nadezhda Ilyina. I thought that was a pretty name and to me it sounded like Nadjalene, so kitty's name became Nadjalene or Nadj for short. i spelled it ending in an E despite the sound being an A because i worked with a girl named Lene which was pronounced Leena. There ya go. Nadj!
this morning while laying in bed, thinking about getting out of bed, nadj jumped in with me. after eric gets out of bed, nadj is there practically instantly. she purrs, she cuddles, she touches my face with her paw, she climbs under the covers. sometimes if i am asleep on my back, she sits on my chest and nearly suffocates me, but sometimes, unfortunately only sometimes, she massages my hamstrings. its so awesome. she's not a light weight cat, but just the perfect weight for when she stands with her front feet right on my hammys and starts kneading, ahhhh, it feels so good. now, only if she could take direction a little better....