It’s long been rumored that the future Mrs. Mosby is actually the late Mrs. Mosby. It’s also a gut feeling I’ve had for a long time. Somehow, it’s always made sense to me that she died sometime before the beginning of season one. Why else would Ted feel the need to sit his kids down and explain to them in excruciating detail how he and their mother met and got it on? And with a recent episode having Ted choke up when the mother asks, ten years in the future, what kind of mother misses her daughter’s wedding, I knew for certain it would happen. The scenario I created in my mind justifying it is beautiful.

Mrs. Mosby will die because it ultimately doesn’t matter if she lives. She has spent a perfect decade with Ted and they made children together and her memory lives on in them.

It makes sense that she died from the moment when Ted decides to tell the story. How many of us have living mothers and fathers who never got around to telling the story of how they met? I only know vague details about my parents’ lives before they were married. There’s always the chance that they could tell us the story tomorrow because they’re still living. Assuming Mrs. Mosby dies, Ted is exactly the kind of person to want to sit down with his kids and tell them about the most amazing adventure of his life, the one that made his life complete. It was the adventure that he yearned for and the one that shaped him as a person. It’s the story that tells his kids that there were a lot of other options for him to choose, one of which he got caught up on for a long, long time but in the end he found their mother and knew that there was absolutely no other option for him.

Ted is the kind of guy who will appreciate the time he spent with Mrs. Mosby after he is gone. He’s the kind of guy who will visit her grave every week and will talk to her and cry. He won’t ever look for another woman to fill the void in his life, because no one ever could take her place.

Mrs. Mosby will die. It makes sense to me, but in the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. Sure, I’ve become attached to the chemistry between her and Ted, but she hasn’t been along as Ted or Robin or Marshal or Barney or Lily. Not even Carl the bartender. I was more heartbroken by the thought that Robin couldn’t have children than determining that the mother dies. I had known Robin so long, and had seen how Barney was around kids, and I knew that this blow would be devastating for their characters. But Mrs. Mosby showing up sporadically during the last season isn’t enough for me to really mourn her future death.

Mrs. Mosby will die because she was perfect for Ted and because it doesn’t matter if she lives.