Similar to many others, the first movies of yours I saw was Spirited away. I remember the event very clearly, I was 13 years old and had snuck off to the library several miles away from home. Out of rebellion I came home with a movie I knew my mother would despise. It was Spirited Away, and I watched it until there were tiny scratches in the disk. Then I saved my allowance and purchased my own copy. I watched my copy until one day my mother came home and snapped it in half. I could not have been more devastated. According to her, No Face gave her nightmares. She didn't like the idea of over-sized babies, and she was really spooked by the music. This, however, did not deter me from finding a loop hole in her banishment of Spirited Away. It lead me to discover Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro and Castle in the Sky.
The years that followed were spent with me sharing your movies with all my friends. Every day after school, they would come over, I would bake cookies and they would watch one of your movies. This routine was the glue to many of my friendships. To this day I still have friends who greet me wearing a Totoro costume whenever I go to there house. The stories you crafted became our safe haven. It was the place we could go when the rest of our lives was too much. Just the other day, in celebration of my belated birthday, my two very best friends brought me some fan art of yours. I will attach it later so you might be able to appreciate it.
Even into college your work popped up into my life. I took a class on Japanese Art and Society. The professor told us for extra credit we could watch an analyze one of your movies. Her project wanted us to focus on how your movies dealt with environmental awareness as well as the potential for Japanese disillusionment showing through the motifs in your stories. I re-watched every movie of yours I owned at the time. Which at that point was only My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Kiki's Delivery Service. I spent the week we had for the assignment watching the movies again and again, trying to see them in new perspectives. By the time I turned the assignment in, your stories morphed from being my childhood paradise, to a more grown look on the world. Later, after seeing Nausicaa some of the ideas I had about taking care of the earth and appreciating nature matured. I can truly say that your stories, artwork, and commentary has shaped my life. You have inspired me and forced me to think deeper than just beautiful animation.
Now my life is at a crossroads. I am going back to school after a year of working hard and saving up money so that I could return. I have recently seen your documentary and I know that the animating world is its own beast, but there is a magic you have bestowed upon the world. From adolescence to adult hood the stories you have created have brought magic into my life. Now that I am faced with what to do with my life, I want to create my own magic. So, thank you so much for the gift of your stories. Without your work, I would have never found the courage to make my stories come to life.
You have greatly influenced my life, Sir. For that I am more grateful than any words could express.
Some day, I will see your Studio Ghibli Museum. Until that day, I will continue to work hard, and re-watch your beautiful films.

A thousand thank you's,
Anna