Early Bird

Rodney Rothman was a writer on "Undeclared," a favorite sitcom of mine during its short, sweet run around 2001-2002. When the show got canceled, he decided to spend several months previewing retirement by living in a senior citizens' community in Florida. Like Norah Vincent, Rothman tries to round out his experience by examining his subjects in groups; penetrating every clique from the ladies who hold court by the pool to the filthy-mouthed retired teachers at bingo and mapping the social distinctions between tennis and shuffleboard players. His observation of his neighbors' attitudes towards sex and companionship was particularly enlightening. Some of the jokes these people tell wouldn't be unusual to hear from a 13-year-old boy, if the boy was a former bra salesman named Mel who refers to himself as "king of the boobs". There's no shortage of yuks in this book, but Rothman avoids some cheap jokes about the elderly and seems to form an emotional attachment to and respect for many residents. Ultimately he finds that old people aren't any smarter or more compassionate than the rest of us but also haven't forgotten how to enjoy themselves; and the communities they live in are in many ways just more humid versions of the ones they left behind. Since my own retirement gets put off a little longer with every slip of the Dow, I found comfort in Rothman's conclusion that it won't be so different from the way I'm living now.