A sad day

This morning, as I was taking a shower, I was thinking about a kid in our ward named Gabe. I don't really know what made me think of him, but he was on my mind. He had been a deacon when I got called as YW President, and he was a ball of energy. By the way, that didn't change the entire 4 years I was in there. We always had to do a little wrangling with Gabe, mostly because he was usually flirting with some of the girls we were trying to engage in an activity! So, I had been thinking about Gabe. I got ready for church and checked my Facebook. One of the other Priests in our ward had commented that he was going to miss Gabe and this other guy. I thought that was strange, but I figured maybe he was talking about after graduation when they would be leaving for college or something.
Less than an hour later, I got a call from my mom. She had been in the foyer at church after her ward's meetings and heard that Gabe and the other kid had both been killed in a car accident last night. When she told me, I was in shock. He was a such a vibrant kid with so much ahead of him. My heart broke.
Church today was extremely difficult. There were lots of tears, and the testimonies centered on the Plan of Salvation and the power of prayer. It turned out to be a nice meeting. The worst part for me was seeing my former YW crying and knowing they were in pain.
After we got home this afternoon, Facebook was covered with comments about Gabe and posts people made to his wall in his memory--great tributes.
It's still so surreal. I feel like I'll walk into church next week and see that silly guy that teases me like crazy. He will be missed!!