KELSEYVILLE — Brian Bartlow and Valicia Catching have a lot to be happy about. From their chance meeting when the two were in the middle of divorces to Catching getting pregnant after being told she would never have children again, to getting married Saturday.
Bartlow and Catching met in June 2012 at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, where Bartlow was racing and Catching was watching her cousin compete.
The two were introduced after Bartlow accidentally told Catching”s father that he thought she was the most beautiful woman he”d ever seen.
Bartlow immediately began making up excuses to be near Catching, such as visiting competitors at the race. “I never visited my competitors when we were racing,” Bartlow said. “Although they are my friends, at a race they are the competition.
“I was 45 years old and acting like a kid,” he added.
When Catching asked her father about Bartlow, he sang praises. “My dad told me that he was a good guy, a hard worker and that he had known Brian for a long time,” Catching said. “He had nothing but good things to say.”
The next day the two immediately began talking on Facebook.
“I sent her a message telling her I was going to win the race for her,” Bartlow said. He did win the race, as well as set the track record. But Catching wasn”t there to witness it.
Catching left shortly after the race began because her ride decided it was time to leave. “I asked if we could stay and watch Brian”s race,” she said. “But they said no. We had a long drive back to Fresno.”
And so, the couple”s “whirlwind romance” began. Facebook chats led to texts and phone calls and in the weeks to come the two would talk constantly and see each other whenever possible, which proved difficult because Bartlow travelled for work and Catching lived in Fresno.
Catching started flying to wherever Bartlow was working at anytime possible, which was difficult because of her busy school and work schedules. After earning her associate”s in accounting, Catching and her son moved to Kelseyville to live with Bartlow.
All the hard times increased the couple”s excitement for Saturday, according to the couple.
“It got really hard,” she said. “But it”s a relief to be together all the time, although I miss the drive because of the anticipation that came with it.”
The soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Bartlow say they admire each other more with each passing day.
“I thought she was too far out of my caliber,” Bartlow said. “I”m still in awe over her. Every day I wonder: How is it that I met the woman of my dreams?”
“I never believed in love at first sight, until I met Brian,” Catching added.
Catching was told after having her first son that she would not have children again. A month after Bartlow and she began dating, she proved the doctors wrong when she became pregnant with Willow Skyla Bartlow.
Catching is 20 weeks pregnant with the couple”s second child, who will be named Larson Benjamin Bartlow ? proving the doctors wrong a second time.
J. W. Burch, IV is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636 ext. 14 or at jburch@record-bee.com.
