the float pool

by Allison Shutts

I had such a different experience of Asha… than most of her followers… not so much of a spiritual guru, but as an artist, a fun friend, and most of all a fellow nurse. We were in the float pool together, both working evening shift, and spending most of our time on the oncology unit. I have never known, in all my decades of nursing, anyone who was LESS FAZED by any of the stresses, impossible hurtles, hellish staffing, (need I go on?) than Asha. She would float (you remember how she moved, like an ocean liner) around the unit with her trademark beatific smile. It unnerved a lot of folk, and what they assumed was spaciness (or hell, even being stoned) was actually a keen intelligence, years of intuitive nursing experience, and the intense need to connect with the emotional needs of every patient — and of course fellow nurses… We all needed her fortitude and inner calmness.

I was so different from her, but we connected right away. It still puzzles me why. After work — around midnight — we would get in my car, or in the back of her wonderful stepvan (filled with canvases, the smell of turpentine, and even a beautiful rug no doubt from her friend Saul — probably worth more than the van itself)… and smoke cigarettes and eat Fritos. What we talked about I don’t remember, but we both needed to decompress and that time together in the UVa parking lot. It was one of my best nursing memories. — some evenings— if Will and Thane Kerner had an 'event', we would show up in our uniforms and dance. I was married to Will at the time, so we got in for free! Our whites (this was a long time ago!) would glow in the black lights.

image from Asha’s Angel book

Asha in her step-van.