Brian Johnson recalls taking his family to a Toronto FC game where a referee gave his kids a red card and yellow card after the match. They later used the cards playfully at home to discipline the children, turning a small moment into a ritual about imperfect people and relationships.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus 1. In our last several plus 1s, we used our recent Johnson family trip to a Major League Soccer game as the catalyst for some heroic wisdom. Today I want to take us back into the stadium. The game's over. We're underneath the stands, right outside the team locker rooms at the end of the tunnel where the players come in and out. Alexandra and the kids now are chatting with Simon Eady, TFC's goalkeeping coach, who is at least tied for first as the nicest guy on the planet. And we're connecting with some of the players as they come in after the game. Then the refs come walking down the tunnel. So knowing I've got some more micro moments of awesome target swipes to hit and knowing the refs probably don't get a whole lot of praise, I gave them a big smile and a big fist bump and congratulated them on a well officiated game. And they were awesome. We spent a few moments enjoying one another. Then one of the guys reached into his pockets and said, I've got something for you. I got goosebumps typing that out. Then he hands the kids a red card and a yellow card. And I'm thinking, this guy's awesome. He truly was. His energy and smile were infectiously positive. I told him that I knew he had a long game, but asked if he'd be up for taking a picture with the fam so we could capture the moment. He said, sure. We grabbed a shot. It was awesome. Then Alexander and I laughed and knew we just found the perfect playful way to keep the kids in line when they get out of control. Yellow card, red card. The best part, the kids pulled the cards on us a few days later when we were getting a little chippy with one another in a little heated discussion. Perfect. There are no perfect human beings and there are no perfect relationships, and that's just perfect. And that's today's plus one. It's day one. We're all in. Let's go, hero.
