Life is like an elevator in that it has so many ups and downs.

Two weeks ago I was so "up" I couldn't stop saying thank you. After praying for a family member for years, those prayers were answered in a rousing way.Filled with happiness, I told my younger daughter life was so good it was hard to contain my happiness."Well, hang on to every second of it," she said, "because it doesn't always stay that way."She was reminding me that life's elevator goes down as well as up. That proved to be prophetic.The following day I had a call telling me the homeless man we all cared about and were all trying to help had a stroke and was in a coma.I told you a little bit about him before - about how he signed up for the Up From Poverty program to gain a better footing on life. Thomas is funny, caring and bright. We all had high hopes for him.Early one evening when he was fishing off a rocky shore, he heard a little boy screaming for help. The youngster kept going under and Thomas knew there was no time to wait.He jumped in the water and managed to get the boy to shore. But in the process of diving into rocks, he broke his foot.The ER doctor put his foot in a cast, gave him a set of crutches and sent him on his way. Not used to crutches, Thomas fell in the hospital parking lot and laid them calling for help. It took a while for someone to take him back to the hospital. No one wanted to get involved.If Thomas had felt that way, he wouldn't have gotten hurt - and a little boy would probably have drowned.I'm telling you, this is one guy who deserves a break, not another crisis.The next day, I received an email saying the head of our Writer's Guild died from cancer. She had just sent me an email telling me she was going to beat it, but she died only three weeks after diagnosis.While I was still reeling from hearing about Thomas and Jean, life's elevator hit bottom with a thud after I had a phone call telling me one of my closest friends had died.Linda was my first friend when I moved to Florida and had shared 10 years of daily adventures with me.Sometimes we hear about a friend dying and we say, oh, that's too bad. Other times we can't get over the loss.That's the way it's been for Linda's many friends who know that she left this earth way too soon.Seven of us who were her closest friends gathered at the beach, one of Linda's favorite spots, to hold a remembrance ceremony for her.I read a poem by James Cavanaugh titled "Will You Be My Friend." It sounded like it could have been written by Linda herself.One, two three. Three major blows in a day and a half.Sometimes life's elevator goes down. But sometimes it is so weighted down that it gets stuck on the bottom.How do you cope with that kind of loss?My conclusion is that we will never stop missing Linda. But in her honor, those of us who still have the gift of life have to treasure each day we are given. We have to savor all the joy life has to offer, appreciating the many small blessings we get each day.My friend Jeanne said that's hard to do when we are so overcome with grief over the loss of our friend.Our small get-together of Linda's close friends was to help us grieve together as we told "Linda stories." Some found a little bit of closure in that.Jeanne and I walked away knowing we might find closure some day but we will never stop remembering the smart, capable friend that Linda was to us.At another remembrance ceremony for Jean, my friend who died from lung cancer, we talked about how she was the heart of our Writer's Guild and a moving force in our community."It's up to us to step up to the plate to shoulder some of the responsibility Jean took on for herself," said one gentleman.Another woman noted that no matter how we try to do that, our guild and our community won't be the same without Jean.All of us, sooner or later, have to wrestle with heavy loss. We have to find a way to cope and find a way to honor the lives of those called Home.It's not easy. Sometimes it doesn't even seem possible. We will do it, eventually, but now I fully understand what my father meant when he told me it was hard to be the Last Man Standing.After all his buddies died, Dad talked to me about how lonely it was without them. He knew he was surrounded by the love of his family.But life had also taught him how tough it can be at times.If you push life's elevator button, whatever that is for you, if you just wait in hope and in faith, the elevator will eventually go up again.The trick is to just hold on until it does.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.