YOUBOU, B.C. — Once upon a time, as stories like this tend to begin, in a small town bowling alley, there was a human pinsetter named Jason Currie.
“We’ve been told we can get faster than machines,” Jason says proudly as he swiftly returns balls and places pins at the end of the lane.
But despite physically jumping between multiple lanes, and mentally keeping track of different games, Jason was bored.
“I spend the time mostly daydreaming,” he smiles.
Which led to writing a novel in his head. Which brings us, as these stories traditionally progress, to Chapter Two.
“It’s a gritty, dark survival story,” Jason describes the book.
While he wrote about a young man overcoming the oppressive forces of a post-apocalyptic world, Jason was inspired by his fictional character to wage a real-life battle against depression and anxiety.
“It helped me grow,” Jason explains. “Because I had to force myself to reach out and learn more just to keep up with this guy.”
Jason found himself feeling less fearful, more optimistic, and after No End: A Survivors Diary was published under the pseudonym D.V. Cattrovich, he started working on a sequel.
He hired a professional editor in the U.S. to help.
“It drew me in,” Angel Currie recalls. “And it made me want to know more about him too.”
Cue the sound of the typewriter.
Chapter Three.
Jason and Angel formed a fast friendship online. After a few years, it turned unexpectedly romantic.
“This came out of nowhere and blindsided me,” Jason says.
“We just fit,” Angel adds. “And I just had this need to be there with him.”
So they decided that Angel would fly from Florida to B.C. and Jason would learn how to drive so he could pick her up at the airport. Then they would meet in person for the first time.
Chapter Four: The airport.
“She was the last person to get off the plane,” Jason says. “And I looked at her and I just knew.”
“The first thing I did was just run up and hug him,” Angel smiles. “It was a long hug.”
While Canada was nothing like Angel expected – “Everyone said there would be igloos and snow all the time,” she says – the love they felt for each other was beyond her imagination
“It really feels like a fairy tale," she says.
So Jason proposed. Angel said “yes," which led to them both promising, “I do.”
“As much as writing gave my life purpose,” Jason says. “My wife gave my life meaning.”
Chapter Five.
A year later the couple is living together in Canada, writing the third (more optimistic) book in Jason’s series together, and feeling grateful that a once hopeless young pinsetter never gave up on pursing his passion.
“You have to keep going because there is something on the other side,” Jason says. “Dreams can come true and love is real.”
And so too, as these sorts of stories end, is “happily ever after.”
