Kyle had recently agreed to go with his father on a business trip to Tampa, Florida. He hadn’t been able to spend a great deal of time alone with his father since his parents’ divorced and Kyle lived fulltime with his mother. Kyle was going to begin high school next year and while he was close to his mother he regretted that he would not be seeing much of his father. So when his father mentioned that he would be in Tampa for a week and only had to work three of those days Kyle became interested in the trip. He didn’t have to think before saying yes when his father asked him to go along.
When the two of them checked into their room at one of the best Tampa hotels Kyle wasn’t sure what he was going to do while his dad was in meetings. He had never been to the city before, though it sounded interesting and exciting to him before he got there. Now that he was there he felt a little lost. Fortunately his father came to his aid and suggested he spend the afternoon down by the water front and he gave him some money to get a sandwich and maybe a souvenir or something. It was a beautiful afternoon and Kyle had a great time.
The following evening they had tickets for the Florida Orchestra. Kyle played the flute for his school orchestra and his family had always enjoyed going to the symphony. They had dinner before the performance at Bern’s Steak House and just as Kyle was about to dig into his barbeque ribs his father told him he had something to discuss. He then told Kyle that he was going to be transferred to Tampa for his job and asked Kyle to consider moving with him. He had already discussed it with Kyle’s mother who was willing to let him go if he really wanted to. That added a bit of pressure to the rest of the evening but Kyle tried to escape into the music. He didn’t want to make that decision. The next day he told his father he really needed to think about it and the decision changed his experience in the city. He went from the freedom of a vacation to the perspective of a possible new home. One thing about it, Tampa was certainly inviting.