I get to hear cool stories all the time about how much people love How I Met Your Mother and I’ve known some pretty big How I Met Your Mother fans. But not long ago I was introduced to Mindy and Megan (@meganhurt on twitter), who have went to the extreme. While I can’t say I would go to the length they have for the show I have to admit that I’m extremely impressed with their commitment. so without further explanation let me introduce Mindy and Megan who are proud owners of How I Met Your Mother inspired yellow umbrella tattoos. Here we go:

aaron from BAI: How long have you ladies been fans of How I Met Your Mother?
Megan: I started watching How I Met Your Mother during Season 2. The first episode I saw was the brunch episode. I then caught an episode every now and then until I bought season one on DVD because I happened to catch it on sale. I then watched them on DVD until I was caught up to the end of season 3 and I’ve watched every episode since.
Mindy: I started watching it before season 3 started. I caught the pilot episode on lifetime and after I watched the first 2 episodes I had to go out and buy the DVDs.
Megan: Mindy and me have actually been close friends since we were in middle school, but after high school, like most friends, we drifted apart. One day, I noticed on Mindy’s Facebook page that How I Met your Mother was listed as her favorite show so on the day of the season 4 première I called her up and asked her if she wanted to watch it with me. We’ve reconnected and have been watching it together every week since. In fact, Mindy makes fun of me because sometimes I will even call her late at night just because I’ve realized some important key element about the show and need to share it with her.
Mindy: We are both in love with the show. It’s pretty much a minor addiction at this point. Both of us watch it all the time and will incorporate phrase and ideas from the show into our daily lives.
Megan: Yeah, it’s bad. My ringtone is even “Let’s go to the mall.”

aaron from BAI: Tell us a little about each of you.
Megan: Well I am a professional portrait photographer in the Lexington, Kentucky area. I own my own buisness, Megan Hurt Photography. I have also gotten my journalism degree from the University of Kentucky and am going back to school next fall for a teaching degree. I pretty much stay busy 100 percent of the time.
Mindy: I’m awesome, need I say more? I spend most of my time being awesome. That’s it. No, actually I’m a huge TV watcher. Besides HIMYM, I like True Blood, Weeds, Californication, Dexter, and still as amazing as those shows are, HIMYM is my favorite.

aaron from BAI: Did you have other tat’s or was this your first?
Megan: I have 3 more tattoos. The first one if a fairy, modeled after Britney Spear’s Fairy she used as her logo in her early years. I got that on my lower back at 16. It was a birthday present from my dad. Yeah, my dad was either awesome or a bad parent, depending on how you look at it. The second one is Marilyn Monroe’s signature on my shoulder. The third one is the words “Let it be“ on my wrist. So Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles and now HIMYM. I’m a walking pop culture billboard.
Mindy: Yes, one other one. It’s the painting Rafiki does of Simba on the tree in the Lion King. It’s located on my hip.

aaron from BAI: Tell us a little about what inspired your HIMYM themed tattoo?
Megan: Well, I had been watching a lot of HIMYM reruns, and I mean a lot, like 5 episodes a day, and it just came to me as a good tattoo idea, since the show is a big part of my life. It’s simple, but has deep meaning to the show and to us. I told Mindy one day that I was thinking about getting a yellow umbrella tattoo and she asked my permission if she could copy me.
Mindy: So when Megan told me about it, I thought it would be a great bonding experience for us to both get one at the same time, since we both share the same love for the show.

aaron from BAI: Why the yellow umbrella? I mean why not the Awesomeness Jet or the pineapple?
Mindy: The yellow umbrella is a running element throughout the show, and it encompasses the meaning of the show, or at least what we feel it is.
Megan: Yeah for both of us, the yellow umbrella represents the meaning of the show. My theory is that the show is one long version of the Lucky Penny episode. How far does the story go back to determine your course of destiny? In the show, it began with meeting Robin and it will end with meeting the mother. The yellow umbrella represents that to me.  Don’t rush it and take each event in your life as one part of the story.

aaron from BAI: Why the location on your body?
Megan: I wanted to get my tattoo on a place I could hide it if I wanted or show it off too. My rule is also not to get a tattoo on a place that will get disfigured if I gain weight, so the foot was my choice since I’ve already used up 3 other spots. I’ve heard it’s hard to keep a tattoo on your foot in good condition, so I raised it up on my ankle some.
Mindy: I didn’t think about it too hard, there isn’t any special reason I got my tattoo on my side, but it’s a place I can cover up easily.

aaron from BAI: Tell us a little about the experience?
Megan: Well my tattoo on my foot was by far the most painful one I’ve gotten. I was freaking out while he was doing it. Mindy was laughing at me because I had a pillow that the tattoo artist gave me to lay my head on and I was pressing it over my face to hide the hideous expression of pain on my face. I told the tattoo artist after he was done that the pillow got more action than my boyfriend does. The next day I could barely walk, because my foot hurt so much and I had some serious cankle.
Mindy: When I started to feel pain, I stopped feeling pain and felt awesome instead. True story.

aaron from BAI: Was the pain totally worth it?
Megan: Even though it was incredibly painful, it was totally worth it because I love my yellow umbrella. But I’m saying that now that it’s done. If I knew it hurt that bad, it would have been harder to make the decision.
Mindy: Yeah, I love it.
Megan: Of course, it’s easy for Mindy to say that. While I was getting mine, I felt like my foot was being cut off. Mindy lay on her side while he was doing hers and almost went to sleep. Since she went after me, at one point I said, “Can’t you at least pretend to be in pain?”

aaron from BAI: Did the tattoo artist have any comments?
Megan: The tattoo artist asked us why the yellow umbrella and we explained our theory to him. He thought it was cool, but we could tell he’s used to these weird inside joke type tattoos and he hadn’t actually watched the show.

aaron from BAI: Do you get a lot of comments, compliments, and questions now?
Megan: We’ve only had our tattoos about four weeks and it’s still pretty cold in Lexington, so neither one of us have been able to show it off a lot. But most people ask why the yellow umbrella and then say something like, “Oh.” Nobody really gets it, but I’ll be super excited when someone sees it that is a HIMYM fan.
Mindy: People think I’m crazy. Everybody that has seen it just looks at me like, “Ummm, okay.” but they don’t watch the show, so they don’t get it.

aaron from BAI: Will this be your only HIMYM tattoo or do you think it will continue to get more?
Megan: This is probably my only HIMYM tattoo.
Mindy: I think after the series finale, I want to get something, but I’m not going to know what it would be until the show is over.

aaron from BAI: Thanks for your time ladies. You truly are awesome.

So, think you are an untlimate How I Met Your Mother fan? Let me know!