A Surprise Meeting On The Street In New York If you don't live in New York, or haven't visited, then you don't know how seeing celebrities, television shows, and movies filming on the streets is a very common occurrence. Having said that on Friday, January 11, 2002 I had the most pleasant and thrilling surprise experience leaving a meeting after work. It was a rainy, nasty day here and on my way into the building which is located in upper Manhattan, I saw orange cones and signs posted that all parking in the area was restricted. Usually, that means that some show or movie is taping and using that area for trailers, trucks, etc. I went over to one of the signs and saw that at least one of the Law and Order shows were filming in the area. I didn't get too excited just because I always happen to run into them filming somewhere. I had seen them taping a few years ago, and had seen Jesse from a distance. I was convinced on that day I wouldn't be so lucky for it to be Jesse. In any case I had a meeting I had to get to and really didn't think about it during the entire meeting. Two hours later, walking down that same block it was a very busy street full of trucks, equipment and trailers. I said to my co worker, let's walk down this street. Now she is someone that doesn't even watch television that much so she had no idea what was happening. In my mind I'm thinking there's a trailer, and I'm wondering who is inside of it, and wouldn't it be a trip if Jesse stepped out of the trailer? We're walking down the street, right by the trailer, there are steps leading into the trailer which sits up high. I'm walking right past the foot of the steps and I see the door open, I look up and I say to myself "Oh My God." I see him, and he is looking good! He's wearing the navy blue chesterfield coat as you can see in the picture, blue shirt and he looks even better in person than watching him on television. It's probably at this point that I manage to close my mouth and pull myself together. Trying not to act like a total idiot, trying to keep my composure and not totally freeze I look straight at him and say "Jesse L. Martin". He says yes, hello. I say "hello, I just have to tell you that I really enjoy your work and singing, you have to sing again." Jesse says "thank you, that's very nice of you to say", and he smiles. He was very warm and so it made it easy for me to continue to talk to him. I then ask him if I can shake his hand. I say to myself "shake his hand", but it's the best I could come up with. It was something about asking a stranger and putting them in the position to give me a hug, much less a kiss, and as much as I felt like I knew him, in the back of my head it didn't seem like the right thing to do. I remembered an interview that I had just seen him do on Conan, and I did not want to be pegged as another bold New York woman who he always runs into. It took alot for me as it was to even stop, approach him and hold a conversation, and I wanted to be totally respectful. So he came down we shook hands. You know the old "I'll never wash my hand again", well I was going to have to so I tried to savor that moment as long as possible. Jesse asked us where we were coming from? I told him we were coming from a meeting at work. (My co worker still didn't have any idea who he was, can you imagine that?) She later told me that the way that I had stopped to call his name and how we started talking that she thought he was someone I had known. I was bummed because I wasn't carrying a camera, so I said to him, that I usually carry one but I didn't have one because a picture would have been nice. Jesse then says, "is a Polaroid okay"? I say yes. He goes up the stairs into the trailer, gets the polaroid and gets one of the crew to take a picture. He took one with us together, and one with my friend. Can you imagine arm around me? I thought I was going to die. So we waited to see if the picture came out. Another crew person came up he talked to him, turned his attention back to our conversation, we talked a little bit about Virginia where he is from and where I used to live, and how I ended up back in New York. We also talked about a couple of people that I know that are connected with the show. After that I felt like he had been so generous and gracious, totally respectful and just so very nice that I didn't want to take up all of his time. I thanked him for taking the time to talk to us, for the pictures and again I said to him "you have to sing again, please please sing". He smiled and said, "I'm trying to do Marvin Gaye." I said to him, "you would be perfect for the role" and he went up the stairs. I was so thrilled and called just about everyone I knew that could appreciate my meeting Jesse story. It was particularly nice that he took the time. He was very warm, down to earth, a gentleman and he came off in real life just as he does on television. He is definitely very sexy and the Southern charm really comes through. Meeting him was truly a pleasure and an experience that I will never forget.So if you have the chance to meet him, don't be nervous, he's a regular person that happens to be on television. Dreya