You know, even after two years, I still have no idea what to do when someone I meet in person tells me that they like this column.

I’m so used to writing it alone in the privacy of a Monday night that by the time Sunday rolls around I barely remember that I wrote anything, much less that people are actually going to read it. And what will sometimes happen is that I’ll get a compliment on a piece I considered … not among my best.

Of course, given that this is my last column, it’s hardly going to be a problem anymore.

It’s funny — for so long, I’ve spent Mondays scrambling to come up with ideas or plans that could be interesting enough to stretch to a respectable length. More often than not, I’ll get partway into an idea and then have to delete it and accept defeat, because I’m not going to be able to finish it. Now my problem seems to be too many ideas.

I don’t know if I believe in destiny, or in fate. I know I don’t believe that everything that happens is for a reason, or that every choice we make is already laid out for us. I definitely don’t believe that there’s only ever one path laid out for a person.

What I do believe in are ripple effects — one thing happens, which lets another thing happens, which leads to another thing and so on until the world is an entirely different place. Considering how easily things could have gone another way, though, it’s not compelling evidence for some grand plan.

How I wound up here, submitting somewhere around 500 words a week, was most definitely a series of coincidences. And because of it, I’ve kickstarted even more ripples.

There are people out there I’ve never met who are reading these columns, who have read these columns, who are thinking about things they might never have otherwise. Who are telling people things they might never have otherwise. And those ripple effects are only going to grow, even now that I’m done.

I’ve gotten a lot out of writing these — experience, more than anything. Learning how to stick to a deadline. Figuring out how to frame my beliefs and thoughts and ideas in a way that’s at least slightly comprehensible to an outside viewer. Most importantly, practice, which is probably the best thing when it comes to writing.

I’ve already had chances to use these skills in other parts of my life. Doubtless I’ll have even more. But more than any technical ability, I’ve also had the opportunity to run into near-strangers, or receive letters from them, and find out that people can and do actually like the things I write. It’s made me more confident in my writing, more comfortable in my own voice, and more likely to keep writing in the future.

Ripple effects are tricky and persistent things.