It's a fairly common query, usually meant as nothing more than a harmless icebreaker. It's a line I've used myself at countless fundraisers and other social gatherings. Moreover, up until very recently, it's a question I've always thought I'd fielded rather deftly. I mean, I'd spent my entire adult life, twenty years, building a career. Honing it. Protecting it. Growing it. Why wouldn't I enjoy talking about it?

Yet here I was, off-balance....