When I found out the news I wept and wept, I could not stop. I loved them so much and now they’re gone. Since that day I have believed that memories are precious. It was June 19, 2011, Father’s day of all the days it could’ve happened. My family and I were in the kitchen cooking dinner for Father’s day when a friend of my dad’s stopped by. At first we though he was just stopping by to say “hello” until we saw the devastated look on his face, that was when we knew something bad had happened. He told us that Joe, Anthony, Mike, Zeke, and Markel were in a car accident. They were five teenage boys driving home from a bible conference that was held in Arizona. Because they were in Arizona, we didn’t know any of the details and the police hadn’t contacted the parents yet. We then started to look online to see if there were any news reports. That’s when we saw it.
          We saw the title in big bold letters “Car accident kills two teens and leaves three in critical condition.” We clicked the link praying to God that is wasn’t them. When we clicked the link it said…
      A car had blown a tire causing the car to flip over and over then rolling into the other lane. The car was gong northbound on I-17 and that was the direction they were going. We continued to read Driver- Joe age 20 from Kearns, Utah has been life flighted in critical condition, Anthony and Michael both 18 and both also from Kearns were pronounced dead at scene, Ezekiel 20 from Kearns Utah was also life lighted in critical condition, and Markel 22 from Kearns Utah was in critical condition.
            My eyes were full of tears, everything seemed blurry. I couldn’t think straight I kept seeing the words “kills two teens” in my mind.  Everything seemed to fall apart, we weren’t related by blood but they were all like my older brothers. We had a part of the same church for as long as I could remember and in that moment I thought of something. I thought of when Michelle, my best friend at the time, and I would ride bikes to school lunch park with Anthony and Mike or when we would play card games. Everything came back at once. Then I thought of Michelle. 
         What did Michelle know? Had she found out about her brothers, had she heard of the devastating news? I couldn’t think, I was sick to my stomach I couldn’t stop crying. I sat on my couch crying into my hands thinking of all the fun times and memories we had shared. That accident affected a lot of people. Many people loved these boys. They were kind, loving, caring, and they knew how to make someone laugh.
        Ever since that accident I have always tried to cherish the memories I have made with people because sometimes that’s all you have left of them. It’s important to live in the now and make the best of today. The bible says we are not promised tomorrow and because of that we need to be kind and love others like we would want to be loved. That is why I believe memories are precious.