Dear Myra, Dear Max is a book about growing older by a 93 year-old woman (Myra) and an 80 year-old woman (Max). It is an epistolary book-an email conversation of close to four years in which two women of different generations and different living situations-Myra lives in an Independent Living community and Max lives alone with her dog Betsy-share their thoughts about their lives and ponder the big questions of meaning that plague everyone who is alive and thinks. Despite health issues, we kept writing. Originally, we were motivated because we couldn't find anything to read about people 75 plus years old that seemed pertinent to us and was anything but myths, assumptions and opinions. Exploring, we learned how little literature there was about this age group at all and how it was pretty much limited to the "it's not as bad as all that, but old age is not for sissies" department with a tad of inspirational stuff thrown in. One large national study included a few "older" people, but told stories about at retirement now, how so many were able to create new careers of what they "really wanted to do" all along. There is no question people are living longer and as Baby Boomers encounter retirement age, more attention is being paid. Perhaps ageism will eventually come more to the forefront and the aging become visible and valued as they should be. We hope so. But there are those of us even older than Baby Boomers who are real social pioneers trekking along a path with few landmarks or touchstones to guide the way. In this book you will find out a lot about us. Frankly, we hope some of it will be helpful and that at least you know you are not alone. A few days ago, a friend responded to an email I'd sent by writing "Congratulations on refusing to retire!" I sent her back an email that said "This is what retirement looks like these days." We hope you enjoy our book. Love, Myra and Max
About the Author: Myra F. Levick, by her daughters: From our earliest memories, our mother was leading: PTA President, Brownie Troop and Girl Scout Leader, Temple Sisterhood President. From elementary school forward, our friends and their parents took note: No card playing, golf or weekly trips to the hair salon. In her spare time, she painted and colored her own hair. When we were 7, 8 and 10 years old, she became a college student. She earned a BFA in painting, an M.Ed. and a Ph.D. in Psychology. Our mother helped found the American Art Therapy Association, developed the first graduate curriculum in the country in Art Therapy and pioneered the integration of music and dance therapy into a comprehensive creative arts program. She wrote a textbook to guide the education of these new recruits and other books followed. Myra's professional biography is exceptional, but her personal journey is no less so. As a career woman finding her way in the 1960s, she embodied both "Mad Men" and The Feminine Mystique simultaneously. She was a feminist before "Ms. Magazine" published its first issue, a lived example of the power of women before the modern battles to win passage of the Equal Rights Amendment unfolded and unraveled in the 1970s and early 80s. She moved in a male-dominated professional milieu, ignoring the historic barriers to women playing the medical and health sciences sandbox. Maxine Borowsky Junge: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Max moved to Whidbey Island, Washington 16 years ago after retirement from Loyola Marymount University where she was faculty member and Chair of the Marital and Family Therapy/Clinical Art Therapy Department. She has also taught at Immaculate Heart College, Goddard College and Antioch University. She is a psychotherapist, art psychotherapist and maintained a private practice in Los Angeles for many decades. She has written 10 books mostly about art therapy and creativity. Her latest book before this one is Voices from the Barrio, the story of "Con Safos: Reflections of Life in the Barrio. "Con Safos" was the first ever independent Chicano literary magazine; it was published in the late 1960s, early 1970s in East Los Angeles. On Whidbey, Max makes art (latest series on mass murders, ) writes, does yoga, reads, goes to the movies, consults and teaches psychotherapists and students, and sees friends for nurturing conversation. Her folk art collection keeps growing and gives her great pleasure. She has stopped driving at night.