My husband, who also had failed to engage the couple, turned to me and we finished the dinner talking to each other. Again, silence and more digging into food.

My niece also played volleyball in college, I told her. She perked up and told me she played volleyball. Seeing that she was very tall, I asked where she went to college and if she played sports. When I shared this information, he stared and went back to eating.Įntrees arrived and I decided to try the wife. Upon more questions to the husband (he tended to answer each of my queries, then stop talking), I learned as an executive with a local corporation, he had been interviewed by the newspaper I once wrote for. I discovered that they lived and worked in an area of Pennsylvania where my husband and I began our careers. For a time we busied ourselves with salad, but when neither the husband nor the wife said anything, I began to ask them some questions. After initial introductions, the conversation halted. She placed us at a table with a couple in their forties and assured us we would enjoy talking with them.

Several years ago, my husband and I attended a special event hosted by a good friend.

David brooks its not about you