“You know you’re never gonna be this young again,” she says jokingly. “I’m getting Botox as soon as I see one crease. I’ll fight the goddess of aging for as long as I can.”

“I’m OK with getting older, I think,” I tell her. “I don’t wanna go backward. I like the new me.”

“Cool, that’s like super thoughtful and wise. Good for you.”

“Aren’t you going to take off your sunglasses?”

“No, bitch. I refuse to shed one more tear in this room.”

She grabs the rest of her stuff and walks toward the door. “I wasn’t kidding, you know. I love you.” Her voice, infused with emotion, carries the bond of sisterhood. “I hope we can hang out next year.”

She tries to rush out the door, but I propel myself forward and give her a hug. “I love you too,” I respond, dissolving myself into the tenderness of the moment, without a shield, maybe for the first time in my life.

I assume Manda Panda is my last major goodbye, until Yoda finds me in Hollis Café earlier today. I hadn’t seen her since parting ways in her office the day after my performance. I’m eating dinner alone, reflecting on what has passed and what is to come. I get up to return my tray and suddenly she is standing there behind me in silence with her strange Mr. Spock face. “Yoda!” I yell enthusiastically. “You really need to stop sneaking up on people. It’s alarming.… I thought we’d already said goodbye.”

“I know,” she responds. “I was supposed to leave early this morning, but I couldn’t leave without telling you that no matter what happens in your life, keep going, OK? Promise me you will?” I nod faithfully. “If you should lose your way, call on me. I will find you wherever you are. It’s against protocol, but I can’t seem to extract you from the corridors of my soul.”

“Corridors of your soul! Who says that?”

She smiles, pats me on the shoulder as lovingly as she can muster, and turns to leave. She looks back and says, “Always.” Then, like a leaf in the wind, she is gone. Even after all those lives, she still has trouble saying goodbye. Another testament to the interconnectedness of all living beings.