Last Friday night, our sports editor Adam Robinson missed the biggest game of the year, unfortunately because of a death in his family.

It took three people to do the job he normally does by himself in one night — our talented stringer, Randy Winton, wrote the game story; news editor Lisa Tindell took photos; and Lisa phoned results to me so that I could post them to our Facebook page.

Increasingly, folks in our business are being asked to multi-task in ways we never might have thought possible even just a few years ago.

But at small community newspapers, these are the kind of juggling acts we’ve been performing for years — we’re just using new technology to help out.

I haven’t had the chance to see Adam on the sidelines of a game this year, but every Friday night — while I’m at home juggling my own three-ring circus, also known as a toddler — I can picture Adam at either a Miller or Neal game, his notepad in one hand, phone in another, and the camera slung over his shoulder.

And as soon as the game is over, he has to rush to meet a midnight deadline so that our readers can get the newspaper on time.

Adam has the sort of job that I imagine some people envy, because they think all he does is watch sports all the time. (Full disclosure: I’m the wife of another sports writer, and I know how hard he works as well.)

But while all of us in the newspaper business have a passion for what we do and find our jobs to be fun most of the time, it’s also very hard work. Not the sort that is back-breaking, but the kind that is draining and exhilarating all at the same time.

Last night, we worked to publish real-time election results to our Web site, and had a team of people out gathering news at the courthouse and at candidate headquarters.

We’ve also just released the first issue of our glossy magazine, Well, which will highlight some of the faces and places in our region in a new way.

I’m proud of all of our staff for the work that they do to make sure that news gets to our readers, no matter how it is delivered — through the newspaper, online, on social media and in special publications.

Kerry Whipple Bean is publisher of The Brewton Standard. She can be reached at 867-4876 or by email at kerry.bean@brewtonstandard.com.