Ease.
"I like the word 'ease'," Robin said. "It has come up lately in a number of conversations and I think it captures so well what so many of us have been craving recently."
Robin is a woman I describe as equal parts counselor and spiritual guide. The work we do together falls somewhere between therapy and coaching. The first time I heard her name I nearly fell over.
"I have a session with my private yoga instructor," my Dad said. To be perfectly clear, my Dad is not someone who has a private yoga instructor. Dad has always loved to workout, but usually outdoors and rarely with more than one other person who would join him for a jog or a hike.
However, after joining Dad for a session with Robin during a visit home, I understood. Robin is exceptional, and like me, does work that is broad and not easy to define simply. She has also discovered and committed to work that brings her true joy.
Over the last four months I have expanded my time with Robin from my visits home every several months to speaking weekly, if virtually. Between significant growth and changes in my career and the craziness and disruption of the past three months due to Covid, I have found myself wanting a guide to help think, work and live through new experiences and very familiar emotions.
Two weeks ago, when we summarized our conversation with a goal, or focus, for the next week, we settled on the words "I feel at ease, am confident, and take joy in who I am." This past week we reflected on it again. That's when Robin shared the recent presence of "ease." in her conversations.
As she spoke, the word washed over me with images of summer days at my family's home. Of transitional moments - sun, shining through leaves and fleeting unscheduled days after final exams or the end of summer jobs. I saw afternoons with nothing to do but shop and cook for dinner, those pursuits free from any competition for my time.
I imagined, thinking ahead to the cooking demonstration I did earlier this afternoon, of an afternoon spent peeling asparagus into thin strips, of unhurried mise en place performed to a soundtrack of Billy Holiday or Jack Johnson. It wasn't the escape of napping or a chilled glass of rose on the front porch, although that could be included. This wasn't escape. It was, well... ease.
The time that Robin and I spend together, like so many things that fall somewhere in the middle, is not a little bit of therapy and a little bit of coaching, but truly its own conversation serving important work in my life from perspectives and places that are not otherwise addressed.
Ease, then, is not a little bit of calm and a little bit of an escape but truly it's own experience, perhaps effectively described as a state of being effortlessly active and quietly engaged. With that, I wish you ease. I think we could all use a little.
Pasta with shaved asparagus
Serves 4
Thinly slivered, raw asparagus tops tender, fresh egg pasta. Rich ricotta and a sweet, complex drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar adds just enough complexity to make things interesting but still, well…easy. A perfect late spring supper when you’re just starting to get bored with asparagus.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 lb asparagus, ends snapped off
1 tbs olive oil - the good stuff!
1/2 lb fresh egg pasta like fettuccini, dried works well too!
2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbs finely chopped mint
1 cup Ricotta cheese
Directions:
Bring a 4 quart pot of water to the boil. Heavily salt and return to boiling.
Place balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and cook over med-high heat to reduce by half.
Using a vegetable peeler, shave asparagus (see tip below). Toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Add pasta to boiling water and cook 2-3 minutes until just tender. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and drain pasta.
In a large bowl, stir together garlic, mint, cheese and pasta cooking liquid. Add pasta and toss together. Season generously with black pepper and top with slivered asparagus. Serve drizzled with balsamic reduction.
Tip: Shave asparagus from the base of the stale up to the tip using the vegetable peeler. Take a couple peels from one side, then flip and take a couple peels from the bottom. Continue with a couple peels each side until there's too little to peel. Save the remnants to stir-fry or for a batch of soup.
