"How I Met Your Mother" is one of my favorite shows of all time, for so many reasons. One of the major reasons is the emphasis it places on love. Through the five main characters, it has shown so many different types of love over nine seasons, but it also showed that it's OK to be single. "HIMYM" showed heartbreak and falling outs, new beginnings and dead ends, and along the way, it showed self-discovery and the need for love in our lives. Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney taught me different things about love, being single, and relationships. (Disclaimer: If you have not watched the entire series and don't want spoilers, then this is not the article for you).
Barney:
Yes, Barney Stinson isn't the prime role model for love. Just due to the simple fact he has, over the course of the nine seasons, been said to have only four meaningful relationships, and way too many one-night stands to count, plus The Playbook. However, Barney has his moments. There were multiple moments throughout the series where Barney showed his vulnerable side--the part of him that did want to settle down and have something that lasted. There were many moments related to Robin that made him believe that love existed.
"I love everything about her, and I'm not a guy who says that lightly, I'm a guy who has faked love his entire life, I'm a guy who thought love was just something idiots felt, but this woman has a hold on my heart that I could not break if I wanted to. And there have been times when I wanted to. It has been overwhelming and humbling, and even painful at times, but I could not stop loving her any more than I could stop breathing. I'm hopelessly, irretrievably in love with her. More than she knows."
Also, let's face it, as elaborate of a play "The Robin" was, it was a pretty big way to propose. It showed me that, yeah, even the most emotionally damaged people can find love. Barney's feelings for Robin were true, and although they ultimately didn't stay together, I think that they were right for each other.
The two-part series finale showed two major moments of this: the first one is when he says,"Guys, it's okay. This isn't a failed marriage, it's a very successful marriage that only happened to last three years," in respect to his divorce with Robin. This was a big moment for me while watching the show. Since the entire last season was just about Barney and Robin's wedding, the fact that they got divorced was huge, but in this simple line, it showed that not all divorce is ugly, it just happened that it didn't last forever.
The other major moment was when Barney's daughter, Ellie, is born. Having used this line earlier in the episode to show the gang how easy it was to pick up a girl, this specific moment gave a whole new meaning, to the character, and to the word "love." "You are the love of my life. Everything I have, and everything I am, is yours... Forever. "
Robin:
Robin Scherbatsky, much like Barney, didn't have the easiest childhood. Having the constant need to please her father, along with the fact that she was raised as the son her father never had, gave her some deep seeded emotional issues. However, Robin did have quite a few relationships over the course of the show. The main two being with Ted and Barney. On some level, I identified with Robin just for the fact that she has her walls up. She has guarded her heart because she's gotten hurt before.
Between the relationship with Ted, then Barney, then Ted again, then Barney again, and as the finale ended, with Ted, and with some other guys mixed in between, Robin's love life has been a hot mess. Plus, she's had her fair share of bad relationships, (let's remember Scooby). However, Robin showed me that you have to to be able to take time and find yourself in order to find the person you're meant to be with. (Let's not forget that she was Robin Sparkles).
Marshall and Lily:
There's no way I could not do these two together. "Marshmallow and LilyPad" are by far the most stable relationship. This is the couple my friends and I look at and say: "That's what I want someday." They are the ideal couple. Although they have had their rough patches (the breakup, and the big fight over the last season), they are two characters who truly love each other. They have the cute story of how they met in college (which is so perfect that Robin and Barney stole it to tell the minister of their wedding), the perfect little private wedding before the big wedding, as well as the undying support and love.
Marshall and Lily are the couple everyone wants to be and they know it--often being called the best couple ever. They are the couple that Ted looks to and wants to be. They are the couple that gives Barney hope for love, and best of all, they are the couple that loves each other so much that they willingly tell, say, and do everything together. I mean, they renewed their vows just to further prove their. Plus, Marshall moved to Italy, just so Lily could follow her dream. That's love.
Ted:
Being the character this whole story is based on, Ted's search for "The Mother" is a long one. Many times, as shown in an episode of the final season, and hinted at several times throughout the series, being so close to finding her but always just missing "The Mother" by literal seconds.
Ted has taught me a lot about love. He has shown me that it's okay to be a romantic, and that yes, you are going to get hurt, but once you find that person who completes you, it's worth it. He's also taught me that everything is a matter of timing, and sometimes the time isn't right.
Ted is a hopeless romantic. No matter how many failed relationships he's been through, or how many times he's wanted to give up on love, there's something that keeps driving him to his soulmate. With the series being based around the story of how Ted met "The Mother," it was at some points rather frustrating that it took until the last three episodes for them to even meet face-to-face. From the moment he saw her on the train platform, it was as if they have known each other their entire lives. It was an instant connection, and basically the entire point of the nine-year series.
As much as Ted's relationship with "The Mother" was a huge plot-line, Ted's romances with Stella, Karen, Victoria, Zoey and Robin were huge stepping stones that got him where he needed to be to end up with "The Mother." Throughout the series, Ted has always had this tension with Robin--from the first episode where he sees her across the crowded bar, to stealing her the blue french horn multiple times, Ted has had to prove his love over and over again.
One of the most pivotal moments of Ted's romantic ways was during the final season. He's on Bow Bridge with Jeannette, one of his (psycho) ex-girlfriends, and he's saying that he needed the locket to give to Robin, subconsciously proving his love for her:
Jeanette: Yes! How long have you been hung up on Robin? Eight years? And you're still killing yourself to fetch dumb little trinkets for her. That's crazy! That's more than crazy.I don't think there's a word for what that is!
Ted: Actually, there is a word for that. It's "love." I'm in love with her, okay? If you're looking for the word that means caring about someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything they want, no matter how much it destroys you, it's love! And when you love someone, you just, you... you don't stop, ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy. Even then. Especially then! You just - you don't give up! Because if I could give up... if I could just, you know, take the whole world's advice and-and move on and find someone else, that wouldn't be love. That would be... that would be some other disposable thing that is not worth fighting for.
Ted has repetitively done some of the most romantic things throughout the show. From the two-minute date for Stella, to stealing the blue french horn for Robin. Above all the romantic things, Ted was also the most caring of the friends. Although it is quite clear that the gang loves each other, Ted has probably done the most for everyone.
How I Met Your Mother, is a show that has taught me so many life lessons. Most of all, it's taught me about friendship, and loving your friends unconditionally. Each one of the characters have gone above and beyond what any friends need to do, and I think that that's what makes the show so great. Lily has always been there for her friends, and used the Aldrin Justice when needed. Barney has created the most elaborate lies to protect both his friends and family (Stinson Mixer Elixir, and don't forget he created an entire fake family just to make his mother happy). Robin is honest with the gang, Marshall has taken tough situations and turned them into songs and games, and Ted has driven far out of the city, been prepared for disasters, been there for emotional support during breakups, deaths, breakdowns, you name it. This gang of friends is everything and anything I love, and hope to have in my friends when I'm in my 30's.
This show has not only made me laugh and cry, but it's helped me realize that there is so much more to loving than just giving flowers and chocolate. It's taught me that it's okay to be a bit crazy and impulsive, that everyone has their own baggage, all you need to find is the person who will make that load a bit easier to carry, and that there are just some people who will always hold a place in your heart.
