After nine seasons, fans of "How I Met Your Mother" finally have all the answers to the CBS comedy show. The series came to a heartbreaking end Monday night (Mar. 31) and was packed with a wedding, a funeral, a birth, a divorce and the beginning of another romance.
In the hour-long season finale fans learned the Mother's real name, why Ted was telling his story and what happens to all the main characters.
Warning: If you haven't watched the series finale, stop reading now. This recap contains spoilers.
For years fans have (at times) patiently waited for Ted to meet the future Mrs. Mosby. His group of friends - Marshall, Lily, Barney and Robin - all met the Mother before he did but finally on the series finale Ted locks eyes with her.
Ted meets the Mother (whose name was revealed as Tracy McConnell) at Robin and Barney's wedding but doesn't talk to her until after the ceremony on the train platform. Of course she has that yellow umbrella.
Later in the episode Ted tells his kids that from the moment he saw Tracy he knew he knew he would "have to love this woman as much as I can, for as long as I can, and never stop loving her, not even for a second."
Fans also learned the fate of Tracy. It was speculated for weeks that Mother was dead, and sadly that rumor turned out to be true. It was revealed in the series finale that Tracy died from an undisclosed illness.
"Even then, in what can only be called the worst of times, all I could do was thank God - thank ever God there is or ever was or will be, and the whole universe and anyone else I can possibly thank, that 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 and open my mouth and speak," Ted said to his children.
He finishes his story by saying, "And that kids is how I met your mother."
However, his daughter and son don't believe he was telling the story to just reminisce about their mother. They suggest that this whole time he wanted to see if they would be ok with him asking Robin out on a date.
"You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met mom - yet mom was hardly in the story," his daughter said. "No, this is a story about how you are totally in love with Aunt Robin. And you're thinking of asking her out, and you wanna know if we're ok with it."
Eventually, Ted works up the courage to ask a divorced Robin out, again. The episode ends with Ted offering her a blue French Horn.
Ok, now that Ted and Tracy's story has been told, let's talk about the other characters. Robin and Barney do get married but 20 minutes into the finale it's revealed that they eventually got a divorce and go their separate ways. Were you shocked their relationship didn't last?
Robin's career is starting to take off and Barney moves on from the failed marriage by returning to his womanizing ways. In the episode he describes a "perfect month" where he sleeps with 31 women in 31 days. However, that last woman gets pregnant and gives birth to his daughter Ellie.
"You are the love of my life," Barney told the baby in the hospital, after initially refusing to meet her. "Everything I have, and everything I am, is yours. Forever."
As for Marshall and Lily, the couple is still together and welcomes their third child. Marshall also becomes a judge and eventually goes after a job for state supreme court.
What did you think of the series finale of "How I Met Your Mother?"
