Ennui is a new friend to me, and we have been getting to know each other. It has been the prevailing emotion as of late – a general feeling of malaise, of being stuck and rudderless, a sense of “been there, done that”. It is not atypical for someone in their forties, I suppose.

The Reunion

I stepped through the gilded doors of the restaurant. I informed the greeter that I was meeting a group of people, and she enthusiastically herded me to a banquet table at the far end of the grand hall. I was th...