The clue for 50-across says that a step of it is needed to get the answer, which when solved gives CONWAY'S GAME OF LIFE. Taking all the black cells as alive cells (as per the flavor text), one can run a step of Conway's Game of Life on the grid, and highlight which living cells have letters on them from the crossword. This is equivalent to finding the cells that are newly alive, which are those that are adjacent to exactly three black cells. These are highlighted in green above.

Reading these in reading-order gives IT IS THE TYPE OF LIFE IN A BOWL, searching this should yield the idiom that "Life is just a bowl of cherries", hence the answer is CHERRIES. Additionally, the flavor text about pits references the title of an Erma Bombeck book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?, which solvers may find while googling for the answer, acting as further confirmation.