You’re leaving out the idea that it had to do with Ted’s mother-in-law, which is what my sister came up with as an interpretation. Throw in a sister for the mother, and that works. Unless we already know she’s an only child.
Of course, it’s not narratively satisfying, but neither were your suggestions.
Another possiblity is that Mom might be dying. She’s been recently diagnosed with (say) cancer in 2024 (this ep’s flash-forward–hence how down Ted seems). Soon after this ep’s flash-foward, she’s treated and goes into remission for 6 years. In 2030, the cancer returns and mom is in the hospital.
Ted is home with the kids and trying to distract them while mom is (say) in surgery with the whole 9 hour story. This would also explain the bouncy, light tone of most of the narration. He’s trying to keep the kid’s spirits up, hence all the “Y’know, this story is totally inappropriate to be telling you” comments or the “we shared a toke from our…um…sandwich” type comments.
The story ends with a phone call from the mom (or gathered around the mom’s hospital bed and she’s fine and the kids and mom hug.
So she could be sick but get better.
Sometimes it’s ok to have feelings, BigT.
That could be a whole other thread. But, for this thread, suffice it to say that, just because it’s okay to feel something doesn’t mean you are required to deliberately seek it out. I’m not some little kid who needs to be counseled on what to feel.
Also, note that I didn’t say I would never watch the newer episodes, just that I am considering not watching any more of them until I’ve caught up on the rest of the series. A sad ending retroactively puts a tinge of sadness on an entire work, and I want a chance to see the episodes as they were meant to be seen.
My only question is whether I already know too much for that to be possible, in which case I might as well watch the sad ending and get it over with, so I can get over the sadness and then hopefully be able to watch the series without it permeating every episode.
And, no, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with deliberately watching a comedy episode or two in order to make yourself feel better. The only value sadness really has is in its contrast with feeling good. But, like I said, that’s another thread.
I just caught up after quitting half way through season 8. I’ve watched every single episode now up to the most current one, and I like the trajectory it is taking. The narrative structure of jumping through time and introducing us to the mother before she chronologically first meets Ted is creative and interesting.
If the mother is dead at the time the father is telling the story to his children that would be amazingly depressing but also probably one of the best series finales in television.
HIMYM has been incredibly sad and tear-jerking at times so I know the writers aren’t afraid to do it. Giving us a good reason for why the father is telling the kids about how he met Mom by framing it as the mother is dead or dying would be pretty cool.
You know, the POV is such that the kids could be watching a television. What if Ted is dying, and making videos for his kids in a last-ditch attempt to download the most important lessons he hasn’t yet had a chance to teach his children? What did she say about not becoming a man who lives only in his stories? It’d be just like him to get lost in the project and forget to spend time with his kids while he still can. And it could well be Ted who is upset that he won’t get to walk his daughter down the aisle. . .
Weren’t there some scenes early on where the kids were talking back to Future Ted? 
Very early on, they talked back. They aged too quickly to continue that.
But has he ever responded in a back and forth? Folks do speak to the tv.
He’s pretty clearly back-and-forth-ing with 'em in the early episode where they mock him for getting beaten up by the girl he repeatedly dumped on her birthday.
And in the very first episode, when Ted tells the kids that he’s going to tell them a story, they ask “Are we being punished for something?” and he replies.
I thought there was a moment in an early episode in which the future mother walks through the scene (face out of view) during future Ted’s story, and says something, but I could be wrong.
I know this is a discussion thread but I think a lot of people are overthinking it and trying to be too clever. I’m sure it’ll be revealed tomorrow night that Robin’s mom walks out of the wedding or something.
Yeah, I’m sure that would make Ted tear up many years later.
When Ted was with Stella, there was brief scene where he was telling the story to two blonde kids and then she appears but it was all a fantasy. That may be what you’re thinking of.
As far as reactions from the kids, there is an episode where Ted meets a stripper and says that’s the Mother. The kids freak and he says he was kidding.
At the beginning of the Second (?) season, the kids ask if they can use the bathroom (“It seems like you’ve been telling this story for, like, a year.”) Future Ted says, “No.”
Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks…
Turns out Lilly was just ordering water the whole time. I was suspicious of the fact that it was always a clear glass of liquid.
Well, it was initially thought that she was ordering a gin & tonic each time, which is a clear glass of liquid with ice and a lime - which is what she had each time. The suspicious thing was that she wasn’t drunk off her ass after drinking a million of them.
I really enjoyed this episode, alcohol misdirect and all.
It’s nice to know that she isn’t a full blown alcoholic after all. But, now the whole Linus thing doesn’t really make any sense. Who tips a waiter $100 to make sure she always has a Sprite in her hand? What’s the point?