Wow. I just want to tell you how honoured I am to live in a world with someone who is such a wonderfully kind and giving individual. I admire everything you do and all that you stand for. I mean, how could I not? You founded an amazing charity called Random Acts just because you wanted to get fans of Supernatural more involved in things, and even started G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. aka The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen, which literally became an international sensation. Becoming a part of the Misha-Minion fandom has made such a huge impact on my life and I don’t know where I would be today without it.
In 2011, towards the end of my freshman year of high school, I fell into a deep depression. Throughout my sophomore and junior year, I began cutting and thought twice about killing myself. But then, in 2013 at the beginning of my senior year, I found out from a friend about G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. and that she was eagerly awaiting for the submissions to be judged and winners announced. Upon asking what G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. was, she explained something so magnificent that I immediately looked it up the moment I got home that day and became transfixed by the man who created it — you.
I’ll be honest with you, Misha, but I’d never heard of you or became interested in Supernatural until that day. But after learning about G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. I found out about your charity, Random Acts, and all the amazing things you and tons of thousands of other people from all over the world had done. I discovered that people were doing insanely crazy things (like wearing cheese or having an impromptu tea session in a junkyard, just to name a few) and it was all because some guy named Misha Collins — “What kind of name is Misha?” I’d first thought to myself, but now it’s a name I can only seem to associate with Angels and 1957 Chevy Impalas and two brothers who fight Demons — said he’d hunt every one of us down if we didn’t sign up to do all this crazy shit.
“Sign me up!” I practically yelled at the computer, but knew I couldn’t do such a thing until next year. Seeing all the things people from all over the world had done just for fun or to make people smile made me want to do this crazy shit too, and I anxiously awaited for the next G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. Hunt in 2014. During the summer I started watching Supernatural, unexpectedly bringing my grandmother along for the ride with me — and let me tell you, we were both hooked from the moment Mary Winchester got out of bed to check on a crying baby Sam and John discovered her burning body on the ceiling. After that I couldn’t get enough; I stayed up till God knows when multiple times just see what adventure the Winchester Brothers would bring me on next.
I was in love with Dean’s boyish grins and family-always-sticks-together values; Sam’s goody-goody attitude and ability to see things on the greener side of the tracks; Castiel’s unwavering determination to protect the Winchesters (mainly Dean) and make the world a better place. This show was an emotional rollercoaster. I laughed at every sarcastic quip from Dean, the photos of Crowley’s deal-making selfie kiss with Bobby, and when Gabriel tricked the boys into never-ending tv shows where Dean fangirled over that hunky doctor. I shook with anger from the discovery of Sam continuing to use his psychic abilities, at Castiel’s inability to find God, and when Metatron turned the boys world upside down. But ultimately I cried at the moment Bobby called them “Idjits” one last time, the earth-shattering death of Kevin at Ezekiel’s hand, and when Charlie went off to live in Oz with Dorothy. The boys were slowly losing their family at a moment when I felt like I was losing mine and that resonated with me.
So, when it was finally time to sign up for G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. 2014, I did so almost immediately. While trying to get my friends and family involved (they wouldn’t join in the abnosomeness unfortunately) I learned from my mother that we would be on vacation to visit family during the ENTIRE week of the Hunt, and finally settled with waiting to be placed on a team. The agonizing week-long wait for the List to posted brought with it the most amazing thing I could ever ask for: my Gish-mates, the great and powerful international team of FalconsRock. I don’t think I’ve had ever more fun — and more Facebook messages! — in any other week of my entire life. Though I didn’t get to do much as I was on vacation, FalconsRock and I got so many abnosome things done in the time that we had together. We started a campaign to help a Veteran pay off their car, and another to help a college student pay off some of her loans. I even wrote a Croatoan Virus pop-up book for children and laughed so hard while doing it. At the end of it we were all sad to see G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. go, but made sure to stay in contact and vowed to try and get on a team together next year.
My new friends helped me through so much, and it was all because of you Misha. I battled my way through depression and thoughts of killing myself to do silly things that made not only others smile, but made me see the world in a whole new light with what all of G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. had created together in just one measly week. Now I want to do it again. I want to do it every year. I want to do it ALL year. I want to win that Grand Prize and go somewhere exciting with you. I want to get that G.I.S.H.W.H.E.S. flag so I can hang it proudly on my bedroom wall and remind myself daily that one person (or millions) can make a difference if they just put their mind to it. I even want that damn bottle of Serpessence to sit on my nightstand just so when my friends come over I have to explain what it is, why I got it, and who the extraordinary person is that thought it up.
I just really want to say that you changed my life for the better, Misha Collins. I’m alive today to see my three-year-old sister’s beautiful smiling face because of you and your abnosome Scavenger Hunt. I’m alive to get my Bachelors Degree in Graphic Design at the Art Institute. I’m alive to be the next John Green and share my stories with the world. And I’m just so, so grateful for that.
Lots of love,
Jaime Joyce
