I picked Nanaa up from a missionary's house in Louga, Senegal, when she was a few months old, on Brett's birthday in 2006. I had picked out one of her siblings who I thought had cuter patterns on her coat, but that cat walked away from me and Nanaa rubbed up against and through my legs. I am so glad that I made that choice. Her two siblings that weren't adopted were driven into the bush and dropped off not long after I picked her out and my friend Meryl picked out her brother.
I brought her home to my room in Linguere, where she quickly developed a routine. She'd leave in the early evening to explore the town, jump up into my window sill in the middle of the night and meow until I let her in, sleep with me until morning, and then entertain herself around the compound most of the day.
My host brother chose her name, which means "mint" in Wolof. Mint played a prominent role in the tea ceremony, and incidentally she LOVES eating mint. My host mom claimed she couldn't stand her, but soon instructed the maid to cook an extra fish every day for Nanaa. The maid got in trouble from my mom one day when she stuffed Nanaa's fish with spices like all the others, because as my mom said "Nanaa beggul (whatever the word for spices in Wolof is)" Nanaa doesn't like spices.
Nanaa got into trouble a few times: climbing the gnime tree in my yard only to find that she couldn't get herself down, getting lost one time for almost a week, to finally be found in the compound next door. The neighbors thought she must be the "muus u toubab", because she wasn't afraid of humans like other cats. We would take a terrible trip every three months to the vet where I'd get her updated shot of birth control, since vets there didn't take care of cats or dogs and therefore didn't know how to safely spay them.
And when I couldn't find anyone to adopt her when I left, I was secretly pleased because she was my little buddy. In the mornings after I had worked I'd come home for lunch and lie down on my bed in the extreme heat to rest until lunch and Nanaa would come lie on my chest. I know there's a picture of that somewhere, but I can't find it.
Here are a few kitten photos that I can find:
We had a whirlwind trip to get home. She was carried off on a luggage conveyer belt and then the airport was so packed that I almost missed my plane. I think I spent almost $500 on the fees to get her on the plane, which was a small fortune to me at the time. When I arrived in DC to go through customs, she wasn't there. I panicked, imagining her still going around on that conveyer belt, but when I asked, the agent said "well why didn't you say you needed the cat?!" We got through customs with a cursory glance from the Agriculture agent and raced to make our plane. Her long tail was sticking out the crate and one father mistakenly identified her as a ferret to his son. I spent the entire plane ride looking at pictures of the person sitting next to me's cat on his phone because he thought that was what I needed. When we got home, my mom was kind enough to let me keep her at her house even though cats were not her favorite animal. I think Nanaa actually converted her to a cat non-hater at least, if not lover. She got out on the driveway, sniffed around for awhile, then went pee and poop in the litter box Drew and Leigh Ann had bought for her and chowed down on the food they had also thought to get.
Pretty soon, she learned that being my cat also meant being Brett's, and although they weren't fast friends, they did warm up to each other eventually. His allergies calmed down and her feistiness might have been tamed a bit.
She loved Kyle from the start.
In Chicago, she humored me on my one attempt to take her for a walk.
Brett and I invented the game "how many things can you pile on Nanaa before she gets upset or moves? The answer was a lot.
Drew and Leigh Ann were kind enough to cat sit her multiple times for us while we were away. She always came back with very cute pictures. Many of the good pictures I have of her were taken by Leigh Ann (thank you!)
She liked stalking cats from the comfort of her own window.
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One particular coping mechanism was to hide under the covers for naps.
How many Senegalese cats get to see snow?
And then it was time to pack up and move to Colorado.
She learned that Colorado had great squirrels.
California presented opportunities to escape. She freed herself once by jumping off our balcony onto our downstairs neighbors' patio umbrella, sliding over the next door neighbor's fence and having their shrubs break her fall. That led to an awkward conversation.
She returned, begrudgingly.
When I started teaching, she was a constant grading companion. Most of the time it was annoying, but her desire to be up in my business was also incredibly endearing.
Here she is when I was grading finals right before Augie was born. My lap was getting smaller and smaller, but she always found room.
She welcomed Augie with some curious sniffs.
And she still managed to find room on my lap.
As Augie has gotten more mobile, Nanaa seemed to get more subdued. At first we thought it was just the stress of dealing with a toddler, then the stress of packing up yet again, but recently it became obvious that it was more than that. She had seemed to lose a lot of weight and was struggling with breathing and occasionally having coughing fits. I took her to the vet yesterday and learned that she likely has widespread cancer, or else three separate and severe health conditions. We've decided not to treat her and to let her go instead of letting her waste away or deal with surgery and/or chemotherapy. What once was a healthy 10 or 11 pound cat is now 6 lbs 11 ounces. Where she was once adventurous, always jumping to the top of the highest thing she could find, she now just lies down and struggles to breathe. But she remains loving and sweet and would sit on my lap all day if I had the time.
I've been feeling a lot of guilt for not noticing her decline sooner, but looking back through these pictures I realize what a great 10 plus years we've had together and I can't be more thankful that the not-as-pretty cat rubbed up against my leg that day in March ten years ago. She has moved ten times with me in those ten years, lived on two continents, three states, and was there for the biggest transition of my life, into motherhood. I had so hoped that she would be Augie's first pet that he remembered, but even though he won't remember her I'll tell him how much he loved her. One of the first things he says when he wakes up in the morning is "Nanaa" and the past few days when she's been living in the basement due to incontinence, we have visited her regularly and she let him give her a kiss today. She was so gentle with him most of the time, and only fought back when he really deserved it. "Nanaa" was one of his first words and is definitely one of his most frequently used ones. I wonder when will be the last time that he will say it, looking for her.
She has been such a wonderful companion and I will miss her so much. But I am happy to know that she will be in peace soon.
