On the night of uncle Barney and Aunt Robin's wedding, I excused myself early. I needed to get to the train station, I needed to catch my train and I needed to get out of New York. I felt truly that there was nothing left for me in this city; I had done all that I ever wanted to do and been everywhere I wanted to go. I finally came to conclusion that New York wasn't the city for me; maybe Chicago would welcome me and give me a fresh start away from all of my history. I always did prefer mystery to history.

I called a cab, and as I began to drive away I felt something inside of me. I felt emptiness like I had never felt before. At this point I should have felt hopeful and I should have been looking forward to a new start, but I knew deep down that I wasn't starting anew I was running from the old. I hesitated and almost spoke up asking the driver to turn around, part of me wanted to rush back to the hotel and be with the gang again forever, but it wasn't an option.

As time went on we would grow apart, Marshal and Lily would be busy raising their kids and Barney and Robin would have too much on their plates figuring out how marriage worked. I just knew that there was no way I could endure watching my friends move on without me, and drift away from me leaving me alone.

That 20 minutes cab ride felt like an eternity, and during that forever I considered every option. Going back and living alone as my friends left and became unable to find time for me, going to Chicago to live a new life away from everything that I had done so that maybe I could find happiness. But I did something terrible, I go inside my own head, I began to wonder if happiness was even possible, there was such a thing and if there was, why hadn't I found it? And why every time I tried to find it did I end up broken?

As we drove the storm clouds overhead also seemed to decide that they carried too much with them as well and they began to release a downpour of water.

Great… I though, but the strange thing was that it was in fact great, if that rain hadn't begun at that exact moment in that exact city right over head, then my train to Chicago might not have been delayed and might have gone and lived in Chicago and my life may have ended differently, and I never would have had you two kids, or have the pleasure of meeting your mother.

The car left me at the station, and the storm unleashed its furry upon me, drenching me in the short moments it took to run for cover into the station at Farhampton.

Once I was safe inside, I sat on a bench next to an older woman and waited for the minutes to pass until the train arrived. But it never did, the storm had caused a flood two towns over and the route became hazardous, but I kept waiting. The woman and I got talking, she was a good listener and a romantic like me, I told her my story about New York and about Stella, Victoria, Zoë and Robin. I told her about the cockamouse, the pineapple incident and the goat in my bathroom. And through all of it she listened intently to what I had to say, and she even listened when I began to drone one about the beautiful bass player at Robin and Barney's wedding. Barney had wanted to preform one last duty as my wingman and introduce me, but I never got the chance.

"If there was some twist of fate and the universe made it clear you two had to meet and had to be together, would you go back and be with her?" The woman asked

I considered and I knew the answer was "Yes, I suppose I would have to."

It took a moment to realize that her question wasn't a hypothetical, but rather a set up; she motions with a nod of her head behind me. I turned and under a yellow umbrella I saw her, I saw the bass player, I saw the love of my life, and I saw your mother.

I wavered; this was too good to be true, I had done this before. I had rushed off and gotten to involved in a girl and wound up hurt in the end, but thank God for the fact that I still happened to be a sappy impractical romantic, because I got up and I said hello.

We talked and we laughed, the more we did the more and more I realized that we were mean to be together forever. I had loved so many other people, but your mother was different. I didn't love her with my mind or my heart; I loved her in my soul. I loved her so much from the moment we first spoke that I couldn't imagine my life without her now that I knew her.

Kids I have rambled about the universe and signs through out this long story, but It wasn't until I met her that I truly believed in any of it. We had almost met so many times that it couldn't be a coincidence, and we shared so much that we were so perfect for each other that we honest to god completed each other in a way that only she could. There were so many times that we almost met but never did, I like to think that the universe was letting me sit like a fine wine until I was mature enough and cultured enough that I could treat her the way she deserved to be treated.

As soon as we shared our first laugh, and she finished my first sentence it was clear that we were destined to be together from then until eternity. I have always been hopelessly naïve with my life and my love, I gave it away too easily and too often, but didn't give it, she took it.

It was strange meeting your mother, because she gave me hope in a world that I had lost faith in, and she gave me a reason to carry on and cause to fight for. That night, she showed me that there was goodness in the world. And she was the reason I tore up my ticket and called back the cab, I offered her a ride and she accepted we talked so deeply into the night that it was the sun began to rise.

"Well I guess she was wrong," I laughed

"Who?" She asked sipping a cup of coffee

"My mom, see she had this rule that nothing good happens after 2 am, but she is wrong because I met you and I fell for you. I know I do this too soon too often, but you may…no you are definitely the best thing to ever happen to me."

She let go a smile, "Ted, do you believe in true love?"

I did.

"Because I used to believe that in our lives we only got one love, and that I had already found mine. But you showed me that it's never to late to find love, and you gave it to me in the most perfect way. Its not too soon Ted, I fell for you too, and I do believe you are the best thing to happen to me as well."

Months of our relationships flew by, and times changed within our group of friends. Cracks appeared and relationships were tested, but nothing ever broke so horribly that it couldn't be put back together. Barney and Robin hit a rough patch about three years in, once they realized that their interests were too different and they didn't share the same aspirations. They got a divorce. However, this was not the end of them. Though they wore no rings, they still had so much love and respect for each other that they sometimes put your mother and I to shame.

They could have let everything slip when they spilt, but they didn't they held on and little by little they glued themselves back together. Three years later they would be living in London for six moths while Robin worked a news story and Barney lent out his knowledge in business and in life as a freelancing businessman, and best selling author of his autobiography and self-help series titled "The Playbook".

Lily and Marshal had times of trouble too, the third child put strain on their relationship, but they did what Marsh-mellow and Lily-pad always did—they smiled through it, and came out happier and stronger. They found love early and kept it alive through a lot of stress and struggle, they were so much on an inspiration for your mother and I, we were always thankful for their support and their example. Marshal became a state Supreme Court judge and has held the position to this day, deciding some of the most controversial cases in recent years, but always making the right call. Lily continued teaching for some years to come, but never forgot her art, she traveled and painted and studied and 9 months ago was offered a job to curate an exhibit for the New York art institute, and no one is more proud of her than her family—Marshal, Daisy, Marvin and Noah.

Everyone was happy in the end as it was meant to be, your mother and I lived happily for 16 years, and when she got sick I never wavered and never left her side because I still remembered how I felt the moment that I met her, because true love never really ends, and I believe that true love was exactly what we had. We lost your mother a few years ago, and I wanted to be sure that you kids go to know the story of how everything you know started.

How love and loss, hope and hate, joy and jealousy are not that different and that sometimes the best stories start with friends because they are what matter most in life.

Your mother would be thrilled to see what has become of you two, and would be over joyed to know that life is fine and that nothing has changed.

Kids, this was the story of How I Met Your Mother and it never ends, because even when we are all gone our stories live on, and in that way no story ever ends.