How HIMYM Should Have Ended

SPOILER ALERT!

One of America's Most Watched comedy of the 21st century, How I Met Your Mother, has finally closed its curtains last Monday with a one-hour special finale, but here comes the big question, how happy were the fans with how the writers concluded the show? What with the fact that the finale confirmed one of our greatest fears sparked by online theories : the Mother's death. It was a rather morbid way to end a comedy, really, in spite of how the writers had cleverly slipped in hints of seriousness amongst the multiple misadventures thoughout the 9 seasons such as Robin's infertility, passing of Marshall's dad, Ted being left at the altar, Barney's quest to find his long-lost dad and even Lily's career conflict that made her leave Marshall as she made her way to San Francisco.

Speaking for myself,and some of the fans of HIMYM who are acquainted with me, I can say that fans who rooted for the Mother to end up with Ted are extremely disappointed with the sudden plot twist. Not only is it sloppy - cramming every single huge detail revolving around the mother's passing and Robin & Barney's divorce into one confusing episode, it is also anti-climatic in a sense that it defeats the purpose of Barney having a legendary wedding in the first place if he's going to split up with Robin anyway. Just as we thought that Barney has finally settled down,he knocked up a girl (whom he addressed as number 31) during his one-month streak and had a baby named Ellie whom he later found out to be the true love of his life. I was clearly unhappy with how the writers wrapped up the final season. They could have at least introduced one of these major points earlier on rather than throwing lame puns upon lame puns to the audience just to 'stretch' the season to be longer. With that being said, here's how I've imagined the ending to HIMYM to be instead :

It starts off as usual, Ted's two kids seated on the sofa as Ted tells them the story that approaches the moment he met his wife (their mother) where he mentions his last night in NYC before he was leaving for Chicago the next day. He was seated at the dinner table where the wedding reception was held,and he saw The Mother, on stage, playing bass for the band who were performing for the wedding.Barney saw Ted and the Mother locking eyes,and wanted to be Ted's wingman one last time but before he could pull off the usual "haaaave you met Ted?" charade, Ted walked out and refused to play as he was already leaving NYC and it wouldn't be realistic. He then said good bye to everybody in the gang individually. While he hugs everybody and gives his little speech, the Mother observes from a distance,wishing she could meet Ted.

It was fate, as Ted was waiting for his train in Farhampton, he tells the old lady next to him about the bassist girl he had seen earlier and seconds later, she showed up with her yellow umbrella and her bass in a hard case. The old lady encouraged Ted to approach her,and so he gathered all his courage and spoke to her. They started to connect through coincidences, and it all started to make sense to Ted. The train finally stops and the Mother got off, bidding farewell to Ted but she left her bass in the train by accident. Ted went after her,carrying the bass with him and they met each other again right before the Mother got on the cab. Both of them exchanged glances and greeted each other with an awkward "hi", then the scene ends.

As Ted wraps up the story to his kids with "So that kids, is how I met your mother..", his wife walks in with a baby in her arms,smirking as she says :
"You're finally wrapping up that story huh? Classic Schmosby. Now come on over here partner, I need a hand with Ellie." Ted walks over to his wife, gives her a gentle peck on her cheek and helps her tuck Ellie into bed while their kids wait outside the bedroom. Robin & Barney walks in a few hours later to get Ellie,and thanks Ted & Tracy for babysitting for them while they were away for a news trip in Argentina. The camera zooms in on Ted & Tracy's wedding photo where the flashbacks began. Robin & Barney got into a huge fight during the weekend of the wedding because of Robin's hectic career, but they then realized that there was a way to make it work by merely observing Marshall,Lily, Marvin and Daisy. With the help of James (Barney's gay brother),they managed to get hold of the right organizations and adopted a daughter which they agreed to name Ellie Stinson- Scherbatsky.

The scene ends with the camera zooming in to the photos of the happy families in frames - The Eriksens with Marshall in a judge suit and all of them surrounded by Lily's paintings, The Mosbies beside Ted's most glorious architecture model, The Stinsons and finally the entire gang with their children in McLaren's Pub,flashbacks of all the coincidences come in snapshots on the screen, including how the rest of the gang were first acquainted with the Mother. and finally the yellow umbrella positioned near the bar to conclude it all.

That, is how HIMYM should have ended in my perspective.
 

Four-Way Street : Things I Miss About You

I wish my mind were a four-way street, so there will be multiple chances for you to get hit by a bus or a truck every time you cross it , in this case almost all the time , mostly before I sleep and when I wake up. And why would I wish for such a horrid thing? It's just so you know how much it hurts to miss you all the time while you clearly do not give a damn, and then having to pretend I'm okay simply because people can't take a hint that I get tired of talking about my feelings.

It's torturous to think that you might never have thought about me anyway, I'm way too insignificant for your concern. You live your life everyday without me, like I've never meant anything to you. Like all those memories we had and the secrets we shared were absolutely redundant. How do you do that? How do you pull through? How do you just,completely erase my existence?

I have cut off a lot of people in my life simply because they serve no purpose, and they have forgotten about me entirely, they found someone better than me and hence decided to move on to a future where I play no prominent role - if life were a movie I'd probably just be a passer-by or an extra they used to know,and no longer care about. I should do the same to you but deep down, my heart refuses to. And the big question is why?

It's bizarre how someone can transition from a stranger,to a friend, to slightly more than friends and when things fall apart,back to strangers again. It happens so gradually and silently, that you don't see it coming. I should've known that our relationship was heading for the ruins ever since the day I got attached to you. I accept the fact that we are not meant to be, in spite of how much we have in common and how much we mutually understand each other, but I did not expect "we can't be more than friends" to be a complete deal breaker to our friendship. I realize that things will never be the same,and to recover from the damage is near to impossible,but it hurts to know that I'm the only one fighting to keep the friendship.

It kills me to see how you're talking to everyone else in the gang but me. Of course,I mirrored that behavior but the fact that it's not in my nature to ignore people, it cuts me deep. No one knows how many times I've internally screamed "I MISS YOU! TALK TO ME!" whenever you're around, whilst not being able to do anything about it. I can't text you knowing you might not reply to me,and Facebook's "seen" feature does not help - it tells me you've read my text but do not bother to reply. I can't invite you out, you might think I'm trying to get a second chance to be with you while I clearly have no choice but to rule out the idea. I can't talk to you without you giving me that "why are you trying to start a conversation with me? we're done,get over it" look. Every single thing I do will only result in your misinterpretation,and drive you further away from me than you already are. I miss you but I can't tell you so, do you realize how painful that is?

There are times when I feel like I've completely moved on, and then something triggers that long gone emotion buried deep within the valleys of supposedly broken hopes. The memories that linger with each and every single stimuli my senses pick up throughout the day, from songs to a variety of scents and sometimes even visuals.

There is no escaping flashbacks of you it seems.

The fried chicken joint that sells crispy chicken tenders reminds me of the time I pretended to be full and gave you my mashed potatoes because you love it.

The smell of the rain reminds me of the time we watched our favorite band live in concert together and I cried in the rain, so you comforted me thinking I was having a flu - silly you.

Slippery floors remind me of the time you tripped on my shoe and I laughed at you , only to find myself tripping on your shoes too not one second later - karma is a bitch but we both had a good laugh on the floor.

Falling asleep while texting reminds me of the time you panicked when I didn't reply to your text, so you flooded my inbox with probably 50 messages only to find out I dozed off out of exhaustion.

Waking up to the calming tunes on the radio reminds of the time I hit the sack earlier than you did so you decided to link me a song  for me to "start the day with" the next morning.

Tiny hills remind me of the time you tried to be a gentleman and offered your hand to help me climb up a small cliff, but slipped and I caught you by the shoulders.

My Alain Delon heels remind me of the time you called me short and kicked my stiletto just to mess with me, and then you ran when I tried to kick you back.

My cellphone lock screen reminds me of the time you figured out my password pattern and tried to spread it to everyone in our gang, so I poked you in the rib.

The couch reminds me of the time you came to my house for Eid,and fell asleep when everyone was too busy sharing horror tales.

The hallways remind me of the time we had our first rave together at midnight,and we sang our lungs out to the tunes of "If I Lose Myself" by One Republic at the empty hallway - that was the night you proclaimed it to be "our song".

Cab rides remind me of the time I helped you and our friend move to a new apartment, she purposely left us in the same cab alone with your stuff while she took a separate one with hers just because she knows I had sort of a crush on you.

But there is one thing I will never forget : morning wake up calls. They remind me of the time you looked at our schedule wrongly and woke me up at 8am, asking me where the venue for the class is.It was the only day I could have slept in but you ruined it,yet I couldn't get mad at you at all.

That was when I realized, you were not just a friend to me. You can never be just that, and I guess I can pretend all I want, it will never change how I feel about you - even if you don't feel the same way about me.

And maybe the reason I can't let go is not because I'm stubborn, but because maybe... maybe I've actually started to love you. You may no longer be in my life anymore, but you will always be a part of my bittersweet memories. And this wasted heart will always miss and love you from afar.