Tim and Elizabeth Petrash
Our prayers and condolences go out to Darren's family.
I knew Oly only briefly while we were in Golf Company, 2RCR at Gagetown, NB, just before he went to Germany. The fact that I remember Darren from that short time, almost 30 years ago says volumes about him. He was memorable, but for all the right reasons. We became friends on Facebook and I appreciated what he offered up through his posts. Through his posts I saw a man who was always on the move. Darren threw himself into the fray we call life and I was happy to have him on as a friend on social media.
I got to know him better through Facebook and I saw someone, whom I remembered as a likeable young soldier, who over the years became a man striving to overcome the obstacles before him and to get what he could out of life. Be it through his studies, learning the guitar, sharing some of pics from his bike rides on Vancouver Island, you could see he was living his life. Those are the types of posts and stories I like best from my friends. Each of us living the way we were meant to live until, to paraphrase Darren, that "day we will have to face our own private apocalypse." Just by living his life and sharing tiny bits of it on Facebook and engaging me on my posts, even now, Darren continues to encourage me to continue to live a good life and run the good race. That's a good legacy for any of us to leave.
So "ladies and gents, lift heavy" as Darren would often say on his posts and keep calm and twist the throttle. I don't think Darren would expect any less of us.
RIP DT, Pro Patria.
Friday November 24, 2017 at 7:38 am