Season 1, Episode 2 (Purple Giraffe)

LVL 10 Good Guy Blog (How I Met Your Mother Read Along)Season 1, Episode 2 (Purple Giraffe)

Robin and the Party

Barney keeps encouraging Ted to go for any other girl that isn't Robin. I think that even good guys deal with this issue. I spent 7 years waiting for my girlfriend to decide to leave before I decided to let go of some commitment issues and get engaged. All the while I looked at other women and compared. I was terrified with just having sex with her for the rest of our lives. Over time she let herself go but I resolved to find the beauty in her where I could to make it work.

Side Note: I think she's beautiful even though she doesn't think that I do. That's messed up. It isn't about the looks.

When Barney suggests to Ted to go after the hottie, I think all guys go through that somewhere deep inside. I'll tell you what happened along the way. I didn't have a hard time with my wife because I was having this superficial battle with her looks. No, it was because I grew this resentment that my wife didn't care enough about my desire for her. She wasn't in it either. We had moments where we discussed doing things to make it better but nothing changed. 

She'll tell you that I fell back in the same pattern of avoidance and anger which threw her into a pattern of self loathing and anger. now i wish I could have spared a kind word. I'd try to fix things like scheduling my time better but we never did the real work. It was like trying to recreate a great work of art in the dark from memory. I wish we had talked to someone to work out the sex issues too. I'll write more about this as I'm sure I will be dealing with it for years to come. I would have been happier.

Robin never comes to the party in the way Ted wants. Ted waits for her. I admire him because he worked so hard to get what he wanted but he was the only one trying. I think at times my wife and I traded that honor.

Robin and the Roof

Robin's fear of commitment is the plight of every twenty something. When I first got with my wife I knew that kissing her was something serious. I have never tricked a girl into bed with me. I don't drink, smoke, or do anything otherwise fun that most frat boys require to sleep with women. My wife lost her virginity to me and I knew going in that I wasn't going to play with her. I felt like it was the right thing to do. It was an honor. We talked about all the fears and deal breakers on our roof. I told her I'd never wanted to get married and that I didn't want kids. Most people will judge me on that one. I know. Just because I didn't believe in marriage doesn't mean that I didn't believe in romance and commitment.

Over time, I got married. In time, the kids issue became a deal breaker. I hate her because now I want kids. I'd be a good dad. Truly. We should have stuck to the promises we made to each other on our roof but biology got in the way.