Have you ever scene the show “How I Met Your Mother”? If you have, but haven’t seen the final episode, potential spoiler alert; and please read after you’ve seen the episode. Then again, I think many of us who watch the show knew a little of how it was going to end. I wrote this a few months ago.
It’s raining outside. Storming in fact. And it’s loud, in such a wonderful way. Coming down so hard my plants are awash in water. The sounds are beautiful. Pitter patter. Louder. And then it subsides. I finished painting for the night. I’m watching the last episode of How I Met Your Mother. I’m 55 minutes into the 61 minute episode and I have replayed the moment Ted meets the Mother (Traci) the first time at the bus depot. And I’m getting chills playing it over and over again those two minutes replayed for almost an hour, so I could write down the dialogue. I thought about just googling it; surely someone or some site has it written down that I can copy and paste, but I find this better because I get to stop and start at every phrase so I can write this out and feel it. For someone who has watched the show religiously and have thought on it a parallel to my own life and my own pursuit of love, there were moments goosebumps took hold. And the scene with Barney and the two parts I highlighted below got me good. A tear may have been fighting to get out. Let’s face it, tears did come out.
It’s late now, and I have replayed the final two minutes for the past hour. This time spent was so very worthwhile.
——————–
Barney (to his baby girl Ellie): You are the love of my life. Everything I have and everything I am is yours… forever. (kisses Ellie)
——————–
Lily: …To Ted… a man with more emotional endurance than anyone I know. It was a long, difficult road. Thank God we finally got here.
Ted: Lily wasn’t wrong. It was at times a long, difficult road. But I’m glad it was long and difficult, because if I hadn’t gone through hell to get there, the lesson might not have been as clear. You see kids, right from the moment I met your mom, I knew I have to love this woman as much as I can for as long as I can and I can never stop loving her, not even for a second. I carried that lesson with me through every stupid fight we ever had, every 5a Christmas morning, every sleepy Sunday afternoon, through every speed bump, every pang of jealousy, or boredom, or uncertainty that came our way. I carried that lesson with me. And I carried it with me when she got sick. Even then, in what can only be called the worst of times, all I could do was thank God. Thank every god there is or ever was or will be, and the whole universe and anyone else I could possibly thank.
I saw that beautiful girl on that train platform and that I had the guts to stand up, walk over to her, tap her on the shoulder, open my mouth and speak.
Ted: Excuse me, hi.
Mother: Hi 🙂
Ted: I’m
Mother: the best man. Yea. Get in here. Get in here. Get in here.
Ted: Ok, sure. On me. (takes the umbrella from her hand)
Mother: Oh… ok, thank you.
Ted: Great show tonight 🙂
Mother: Oh… thank you 🙂
Ted: You’re Cindy’s ex-roommate, right?
Mother: Uh yea, and you’re the professor. I took one of your classes.
Ted: Really, which one?
Mother: Econ 305
Ted: Econ 305? I don’t teach… Oh no.
Mother: Yea
Ted: Excuse me, I’m going to jump on the tracks now.
Mother: No no no, don’t. You were great. You were great.
Ted: Waitasecond, this is my umbrella. I left this umbrella at Cindy’s. You totally stole my umbrella.
Mother: what?!? No I didn’t! This is my umbrella. I bought this.
Ted: Excuse meee. It even has my initials on it… right here. TM. Ted Mosby.
Mother: Yea, look again Ted Mosby. Those are my initials. TM. Traci McConnell.
Ted: Um, no Traci McConnell. It’s TM totally my umbrella
Mother: Uh, you’re TM terribly mistaken, because this umbrella has always belonged TM to me. Although, I did lose it for a few years there. Um… So I went to this dance club.
Ted: On St. Patricks Day
Mother: On St. Patricks Day?
Ted: And you left it there.
Mother: And I left it there.
T: You never thought you’d see it again.
Mother: And I never thought I’d see it again… funny how sometimes, you just find things.
Ted: Hi
Mother: Hi 🙂 (smiles and laughs)
Playing in the background… “Can I see you tonight? Every night it’s just the same on the downtown train.”
As alway, if you liked this post, please follow me on http://www.secretofmysuccecil.com Thank you.
Secret of My SucCecil 
I too loved that scene. But it caused me to hate the actual ending. But even though I much preferred the mother to Robin by the end, I was determined to make peace with how it ended, because I couldn’t possibly hate the ending of my favorite show. So after a couple months of thinking and re-watching, I found new meaning in a lot of the finale. I wrote a fairly lengthy piece about it all here – http://wildamericangooner.com/2014/07/01/making-peace-with-how-i-met-your-mother/ – and I shared it with the creator of the show, Craig Thomas, and with lead actor Josh Radnor. Both of them gave me positive reviews, despite my expressed dislike for the ending. I would suggest giving it a read, as I think it might cause you to see everything a little differently.
LikeLike
Thank you for your reply! I’ve read your piece on the show’s ending several times now. I agree with a lot of it. I still watch that last episode several times, but almost always stop right after the scene where they meet, as I prefer that ending to the actual ending showing Ted & Robin getting together. Perhaps, it’s because I never warmed up to Robin (in many cases, didn’t even like her), and fell “in love” with Traci from the get-go after her introduction in the show’s last season. Robin didn’t realize what a good thing she had in Ted, “until it was too late”. But in the end, that part I do like, it’s never too late. Thanks again for the response and the read; I enjoyed reading yours too.
LikeLike