"So you see kids, I know this story has been very out of order. It's probably thrown you for a few loops. It's probably made you question the sanity of your parents, Lily, Marshall, and most definitely Aunt Robin and I. However, it's important that you have finally heard it in it's entirety."
After meeting that fateful day at Robin and Barney's wedding, Ted's life was forever changed. The void he had been trying to fill since his days of chasing the Slutty Pumpkin had finally disappeared. Tracy was the light of Ted's life. Her career as a musician provided the mobility that the relationship needed as Ted decided to in fact take the job in Chicago. Two days after meeting, Ted asked Tracy to move with him. She blindly obliged, thinking that there was nothing to lose. She wasn't booking gigs in New York, she had no friends or family here. Why not take a chance? This turned out to be the best chance she had ever taken.
As successful as the move to Chicago turned out to be, the absence of his core friend group proved to tough for Ted. With Tracy expecting their first child, Ted wanted nothing more than his children to grow up surrounded by the beautiful people that shaped him into the man he was. And more than that, Ted wanted his first children to be friends with Lily and Marshall's son and any other future children the group may produce. For these reasons, Ted and Tracy moved back to New York City. In typical Ted Mosby fashion however, the move happened two weeks before Tracy was due to give birth, resulting in a road trip filled with way too many emotions and "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers on repeat.
Robin and Barney went on an almost permanent honeymoon, backpacking through South America and reliving all of the experiences Robin had made on her "soul finding" trip to Argentina. However, after one too many run-ins with Gael, Robin's former Argentinean boyfriend, Barney realized his former aggressive passion to hook up with as many women as possible had been channeled into an all-out obsession with Robin that just was not healthy. They flew back to New York, separated and spent a year "finding themselves," before rekindling the relationship.
However during this year of separation, Barney returned to his old ways. Creating new and improved ridiculous challenges for himself. On one binge, Barney challenged himself to having a perfect month (31 girls, 31 days). Mission = accomplished. It wasn't until a month after his perfect month was the title revoked. Not only had he completed his challenge, but the 31st woman was pregnant. Upon hearing the news of Barney's newest creation and mental downfall, Robin was there to pick him back up. This outpouring of compassion reminded Barney of why he was so madly in love with Robin. They moved back in together, Robin became the stepmother of a beautiful baby girl, and Barney became the man no one expected- a soccer dad.
Our favorite couple, Marshall and Lily seem to live the most stable lives amongst the chaos of the rest of the group. They move to a suburb outside of the city, and once everyone has settled down- actually convince people to come visit. Their son is now a teenager and has become the child of Lily's nightmares… a mini Barney. He currently has three girlfriends, with two on the waiting list. He has started his own business of selling junk food out of his locker at school and is looking up to become a great business man. He owes all of his popularity and success to his mentor and weekly man-date, Barney.
All is peaceful and has finally fallen in place for the clan. Until one day, on Penelope's 7th birthday. Ted had been experiencing uncontrollable migraines for a month and finally made a doctor's appointment to see what is wrong. In the worst possible scenario, the doctors find a brain tumor and give Ted six months to live. The entire clan is devastated, but do everything in their power to make their last six months with Ted the best he has ever had. They set out to check everything off of Ted's "LEGEN-DARY BUCKETLIST" (trademarked by Barney), which includes feats such as purchasing and redesigning McClarin's, catching the cockamouse, jumping off the old apartment roof onto the next building one last time, having an intervention for Marshall and Lily's son, and finally solving the mystery of the pineapple. Ted's final days were spent with his best friends and wife by his side. Tracy had now been integrated into the group and was so grateful for the relationships Ted had fostered. The clan's final promise to Ted was to help Tracy raise his children and to never let his quirky, hopelessly romantic spirit die.
"I know this story seemed long and drawn out," Barney begins, *Kids sigh and roll their eyes* "But you see, Ted was the greatest man I ever knew. And that, is how we met your mother."