Gush: How I Met Lily

Please excuse me while I gush.

For all of you folks who don't follow HIMYM, last night was the season finale, the night we were going to meet the mother. After 8 seasons, we were promised "the mother of all secrets." And if you've been keeping up the past couple of months, you knew that this was no advertising tom-foolery - a reveal was guaranteed.

Now, this isn't actually a post about the episode itself. I'll get to that later. Instead, today's post is about the experience of watching the big reveal at McGee's Pub - the home of HIMYM fans, the writing den of Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, the inspiration behind McClaren's Pub.

My friend A (who I met at a book club!) introduced me to McGee's pub back in January (Excuse me, what?  How have I not known about this?) and since then, we've spent our 2013 Mondays as superfans. We're talking a special menu complete with "The Best Burger in NY" and "But-Um" drinks. Not only that, but every TV in the bar changes over to HIMYM at 8PM. If you're a fan, even if you don't live in NY, you should try to catch a final season episode at McGee's next year.

So last night, we all crammed in for the big event, the mother-meeting. I won't spoil who she is or how we meet her, but I will tell you that everyone in the bar (two floors packed with fans) screamed when we saw her. It was a delight, an irreplaceable experience.

But wait - it gets better. A and I had to rush out after the show, but as we were gathering our things, she asked me, "Are those the writers over there?" Yes folks, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were in the house, back in the place where they created the show, watching their big episode with their fans. A writer's dream! A asked the bartender if those were in fact the writers and he responded, "I don't know (shame on you, barkeep!), but Alyson's over there."

Squeee! Alyson Hannigan! Lily Aldrin! Luckily, we had front row seats and only a handful of people had spotted her, so we popped on over and said hello, just like that (actually it was more like OMGhelloOMGIloveyouomgOMGhi!) She was extremely nice. She gave us hugs and was very excited herself. She told us that she just HAD to be there to see everyone's reactions.

So thank you Craig, Carter, Alyson, and the rest of the team for giving one back to the fans. If I create a TV show (that's after the novels and screenplay adaptation[s] #dreambig), I'm totally watching it with the fans...and bringing Alyson Hannigan with me.

@McGeesPub 

#HIMYM