He's becoming a man.

He's almost bigger than his mom and he's only 11.

Of course, she's wee, but still. He's 4' 11" and 113 lbs (mostly muscle).

Right now, Wednesday looks good, Sparky. Union Station seems like the best bet.

David, it's all hockey all the time. It's his job now. The high school Varsity 1 team is headed to the playoffs (he's the assistant coach). The V2 team (head coach) pulled off its own miracle on ice and knocked a team out of the playoffs in the last game of the regular season. His bantam team is his cross to bear this season. The have no heart and think that they are the greatest things since sliced bread, so there's no need to follow the system or play with any intensity. He's also doing private lessons with goalies with a number of different organizations.

It's a lot of hockey.

Which isn't the worst sort of typecasting, I guess, but probably not what he's going for as an actor.)

Nestor Carbonnell is a very talented actor. I like him a lot. it's hard for me to see him in serious roles, but he's very good in them.

The have no heart and think that they are the greatest things since sliced bread,

Eueucchh, I hate that combination. Emmett's tournament team was like that when he joined but (a) we added star players who were really nice kids and had a ton of heart and; (b) some of the snottier little divas grew up and improved their behavior.

That's a little too much hockey. I think he owes you a summer in Tuscany.

He's 4' 11"

At 11? One more inch and he'll outstretch me!

Ok. Just talked to my boss. He's being more than understanding. Next week is school vacation, so we're going to see how I'm doing after that. For now I still have a job.

(a) we added star players who were really nice kids and had a ton of heart and; (b) some of the snottier little divas grew up and improved their behavior.

Positive peer pressure rules.

At 11? One more inch and he'll outstretch me!

I'm kind of wondering where he's going with all this. Because if he gets to be 6' 1" and still plays catcher and can hit then he might play college ball after all.

Everyone around me seems to think this isn’t a time to push, but that’s just really hard right now. I want to be the best person I can be, you know?

Of course you do, honey. That's one of the things that I (and many others, I'm sure) admire about you -- the fact that you're always striving to be the best person you can be, instead of just coasting along, doing the bare minimum.

I love this new job, but it’s a good possibility that it’s too much to take on right now. And I hate that. I hate that I’m always giving up things I want because it’s too much for my stupid fragile body.

That makes perfect sense to me. Hating that circumstance is an eminently sensible response. Your physical health is creating a limitation, and you don't want to be limited.

When you talk about being the best person you can be, it seems like you're looking at it in terms of quality AND quantity -- as in, doing your activities well, but also doing MANY activities well. Is it possible for you to reframe "being the best person you can be" in terms of being selective about the number of commitments you choose, but then doing those things well?

You already know that if you get run-down from doing too much, then you won't be able to do your best at the things you're already doing. So I'm not going to belabor that point.

My *own* opinion is that your activity load right now sounds high for ANY adult, not just you. I don't know if my opinion adds anything to how you decide to think about this situation, but *if* an outside opinion helps, you definitely have a VERY full plate right now. It would make just about anyone tired sooner or later.

Positive peer pressure rules.

It really does. You can't be the diva when the obvious studs on the team are cheerful, work hard and are fun to be around.