That is not easy text to read :) "Sense" here refers to an "awareness" or "realisation" (rather than a literal sensation in the body), as in "I had a sense that life would get difficult for both of us after this". Perennial suggests something persistant but periodic, something that fades and comes back again and again, like the seasons. (Perennial flowers are flower which die each year but come back again in the next season). So a perennial sense is a persistent awareness of something that comes back to you again and again. HTH.