Star* of DUDE...
Star* of Dudestar*....
I am Totoro... and when K was little about 2.5 we bought her the movie "My friend Totoro"
It is about 2 little girls whose Mother is in a Hospital with TB we think. It is never said but implied.
The little one, Mei, starts seeing "Totoros" they are little and big Trolls that befriend the girls and help them make it through a move and a new School and their Mother's illness.
It is a sweet movie about hope and believing in fairy tales. The Totoros live in an ancient Camphor Tree. K and N would go under our huge pine tree and called it the Totoro tree.
Now we have a Mesquite tree they call "Barkleigh" and they can sit under it and play.
I always thought of myself as the girls Totoro... and in the movie is a shape shifting Cat, that turns into the "Catbus" that takes you where ever you need to go.
All of the story is actual folklore in Japan and the children are told this story and similar stories.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g3h7llV-wI"]YouTube - What a wonderful world Totoro[/ame]