The pan­ic set in when Annabelle turned 49. The solic­i­ta­tions from the AARP began flood­ing her mail­box as she weighed the options of going back to school, get­ting divorced and rais­ing lla­mas. She could­n’t afford a vaca­tion, so she was tak­ing a lot of naps. A vis­it to her gyne­col­o­gist end­ed not with one of his usu­al benign send-off, ​“stay healthy, stay hap­py, stay hydrat­ed” but instead with the slight­ly omi­nous: ​“Stay fun­ny.” Gur­witch has tak­en that advice to heart. Whether she’s plan­ning her future retire­ment in an elder hos­tel in Cos­ta Rica, nav­i­gat­ing the exten­sive anti-aging offer­ings in the depart­ment store beau­ty counter, nego­ti­at­ing for her son’s Bar Mitz­vah by a prison Rab­bi in an Epis­co­pal Church, aid­ing in the assist­ed sui­cide of her best friend, Gur­witch brave­ly turns an unflinch­ing eye towards the myr­i­ad issues peo­ple can look for­ward to in their mid­dle years.