I've been a proponent of #2 for awhile. It lets us meet the mother without letting present Ted meet her.

Chloe, the girl you're talking about is called 'bump girl'. Many people think that. I believe it's a red herring.

The yellow umbrella first made it's appearance in the Season 3 opener Wait for It. Ted reminds the kids, and tells us, that the short story has something to do with it blowing around on a wet, windy street. The next time we see it is in No Tomorrow, this is where Ted picks it up. They've shown it, and 'the mother' walking around under it a couple times from above (BTW the person under it is director Pam Fryman), but I forget if those were in the aforementioned eps or in other episodes.

JD amazing recap. You're spot on. I enjoyed the episode and am glad the writers gave Ted and us some more resolution with Stella. I think he'll be able to move on for real now. I think this episode will become more liked once we find out how the events portrayed lead to the mother. The writers do the most amazing job ever of making us feel connected to the characters (thus hating Stella) while bringing the funny.

Nice drama, too little funny. But there were some good lol's. I really liked Stella's speech to Ted and can forgive her a little, and I think Ted does the same. He's a romantic, he cannot stand in someone's way to 'the one'. Can't wait till the Leap to see where this is headed.

P.S. Noobs to the blog, we've had the whole Barney driving discussion before. It slightly bothered me when Moving day aired, but when you discount the Barney's Blog content as not canon to the show, and realize that the famous scene in Arriverderci Fiero is before the series started it's reasonable that Barney can now drive. And I bet that he learned to do so to get in some girls pants.

There's still next week for a link to occur.

Every time I see Ranjit I have to yell is name like they do. He's awesome.

Jason Jones is ok, so Tony would be better if they develop him a bit. But I'd rather not waste time and get the Tony/Stella arc over.

I made a huge mistake by watching some interviews on e!online. I hope they gave us fake spoilers because if not I'll be upset (w myself for watching them).

I loved it in season 1. Since then it's gotten worse every episode. They recycle too many ideas for me. I did hear about the 'big' plot twist and that sealed the deal for me.

So I have this theory. They said some part of the title question will be answered. So future Ted could tell us more of the yellow umbrella story without a full reveal.
But my theory is this, cut to future Ted and kids, then hear a female voice say, "Is your dad still telling you the story of how we met?", then she tells the story, in a minute, from her perspective, so we never see her, but we get a glimpse of the moment. Just a crazy theory?

I hope Ted does not relapse with Stella.
I'm most excited about Lily being back.
I think they'll set up RoBarn but they won't be together for awhile.
I try not to make too many predictions or look forward too much because that opens me up to disappointment. I just hope Bays and Thomas keep making a great show, and another great finale.