I’ve been thinking about how I’ve wanted to start this column ever since I came across Brendan Hall’s senior column at the end of my sophomore year, and I think that my biggest mistake was trying to be memorable.

Will I leave a legacy here? Probably not. I won’t miss the institution itself, but I’ve learned so much from so many people – both students and faculty – that I’ve finished my college career a better person.

As someone born with spina bifida and being the youngest in my family, I’ve been taken care of for the better part of my life. However, that all changed when I came to the University of Massachusetts.

I decided to go a month during my freshman year without my attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication – yeah, that won’t happen ever again.

My half-hearted attempts to become independent included taking the initiative to come down to the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. In the four years of working at this incredible place, I’ve seen a lot of faces and, surprisingly enough, a lot of them remember me. Many of my co-workers developed strong bonds and life-long friendships with each other. I wish I did the same.

Not to say I was a dick to all of the people I worked with, but I didn’t recognize the fact that a lot of them consider me a friend and want to hang out with me.

I consider all of you friends, too.

I just didn’t realize how much I stayed inside my own head for these entire four years, and I’m kicking myself for it now.

Admittedly, I take a lot of things for granted, but at least I recognize that fact.

With my birth defect, I should be in a wheelchair and actually, the doctor advised my mother and father to abort – I will never be able to thank them enough for going against those words.

Everyone around me tells me how lucky I am for having gone through so much. I hope one day that I can realize that, but for now, I have to get down from the pedestal I have perched myself on for as long as I can remember.

If there’s one thing that anyone gets out of this column, I hope it’s the idea that there are things in this world bigger than yourselves. This isn’t a condemnation by any means, but life will sure as hell get a lot easier once you realize that.

Yeah, so I escaped death and a life confined to a wheelchair, big deal. Now I need to start overcoming the problems faced by everybody else, which may be the scariest part.

You never stop learning, you never stop growing and things will never, ever, get any easier. It really is true that life isn’t about avoiding the rain but learning how to weather the storm.

It gets a lot easier when you find people to dance in the rain with, too.

I could go on with the silly weather clichés, but we’d be here all day and no one wants that.

I entered UMass as a journalism major because I knew that I could write and that I’d probably change my mind later anyways, so what the hell. Four years later, here I am on the verge of earning that journalism degree, and I’ve tacked on an English major as well.

With those degrees and a four-year spot at the Collegian, I guess I’m a literary masochist.

I don’t regret it, though. I needed an outlet for my feelings. It’s not like I had a bad home life or anything, but everybody needs to express themselves somehow.

It’s okay to do that, you know. You don’t have to come from a broken home to have a need for expression. There are obvious lines to that expression that a lot of people cross, but good for them for taking the initiative that a lot of people don’t. Initiative plays a huge role in what you can accomplish in life. Obviously, it’s easier to sit back and wait for things to happen, but I highly doubt that there’s much excitement in that.

For those of you who are apprehensive about taking initiative, the fact that it crossed your mind is step one.

For those of you like myself who are far better at giving advice than putting anything into practice yourself, let’s get ready for an uphill battle that’s all part of one hell of a ride.

There are a lot of people who I could thank at this point in time, but that won’t give any credence to the praiseworthy people who have escaped my memory at the moment.    .

I will say this, though – I take a profound joy in coming into contact with all of the people I meet on a daily basis and if you are one of those people, you’ll be in my heart forever.

O.K., one more weather quote – last one, I promise. If you spend all your life preparing for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the patches of sunshine.

Thanks for listening, folks, you light up my life.

Mike Gillmeister was an assistant sports editor. He can be reached at [email protected].