On Monday, after a busy weekend with houseguests and many family activities, I was pretty darn tired when I hit the newsroom. I had two stories to write for the weekend and our syndicated EndNotes column was due to McClatchy-Tribune by Wednesday.

A story came up here that I knew I should write, but I didn't readily volunteer, because I felt the week was already going to be so busy.

That night, I continued reading the book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. I was in awe of all that Eleanor Roosevelt did in the war years, when she was about my age.

She helped organize civilians in the war effort, traveled overseas to comfort injured soldiers, visited women working in factories and was instrumental in influencing the government and companies to offer on-site childcare. She was also a mother, grandmother and devoted to several friends, and she supported her husband as best she could. And here's the clincher. She wrote a daily newspaper column, 400 words, that was syndicated throughout the country. A DAILY column.

I felt like such a wimp. On Tuesday, I volunteered to write the extra story. Eleanor Roosevelt role-modeled how to buck up from the grave.

Anyone else ever had a similar experience?

(About the photo: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt greeted Miss Spokane at a War Bond Rally in Seattle in 1943.  Photo  archive/The Spokesman-Review)

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