Bonnie Raber Wickes, a retired psychologist, wrote this memoir for friends and family. Other readers may be drawn as well to common themes of the third phase of life, her focus in this book. She uses the framework of the forest, a place for growth and reflection, as she shares the death of her parents, the birth of grandchildren, meaningful work and travel, ruptures in near-perfect health, the deepening of relationships, evolving spirituality, retirement, and finally, the shock of the pandemic. She sprinkles jewels throughout her story, some of them real and others more ethereal. Visions of hope and enduring peace inspire her journey through this third phase of life, called Vanaprastha in ancient yoga tradition. As this phase nears the end, she contemplates entering the fourth and final phase of life.