They Met in an Elevator; Now They Travel the World Together
Every week, The Friendship Files features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.
This week she talks with two men who have a tradition of taking an annual international trip to see a soccer game—they’ve been going for more than 20 years now, sometimes alone, sometimes with their families, and in recent years, with a large extended group of friends. They discuss their college meet-cute and the origins and expansion of the soccer trip.
The Friends
Sean Kennedy, 55, the vice president of an e-commerce company who lives in Etoile, Texas
Brock Kwiatkowski, 53, a planner for civil-engineering projects who lives in Bath, Maine
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Julie Beck: You two met in an elevator—basically like a rom-com. Set that scene for me.
It was in college, at the Circle K International convention in Boston in 1986. Circle K is sponsored by Kiwanis; it's the collegiate-level service organization. I'm walking to the elevator, the doors open up, and there's Sean and his friend holding almost an entire bar's worth of alcohol bottles, of all different kinds, shapes, and sizes, plus a cart. I walked in and said, “These are my people.” And
