A group of common tenrecs (Tenrec ecaudatus) in Anjiro, Toamasina, Madagascar

My sweet potato, my cocobutt, my dearest dirt pig. I miss your endless snoot and your funny antics.

Two weeks ago Bowie passed away. She'd been slowing down a bit in the days before her death, which I initially thought might be her preparing to hibernate (it's the season). On the evening before she died, we cuddled and I took these - what would turn out to be the last - pictures. While her behaviour hadn't really changed something felt off to me, so it wasn't a huge shock when I found her dead in her enclosure the next day - but that didn't make it any easier. Bowie has always had a special place in my heart, out of the many pets I've owned she was one of my favourites. Everybody loved her the instant they met her. I knew she was getting a bit older but I was still hoping we could have some more time together, but sadly that didn't work out.

My vet performed a necropsy which didn't show anything other than some liver issues which might have been caused by sudden weightloss during her last few days. There is very little known about common tenrecs and their lifespan, but the oldest known have lived till 5, which Bowie would have turned at the end of this year. While I am deeply saddened by her death and I am missing her lots - I still can't really believe she's gone and I keep catching myself wanting to check up on her out of habit - there is some solace to be found knowing she lived a good life and passed away when it was her time to leave us.

This is it. After weeks of binge-watching Netflix, attempts at living room yoga and skipping rope without breaking everything in your vicinity (did you really have to get that glass side table?), hoarding toilet paper and ice cream we are now fast approaching our final form. The pinnacle of roundness. The culmination of the coconut shape. That perfectly streamlined avocado physique. Hair growing in places you didn't even know you could grow hair.