By Anne (amytych@yahoo.com)

August 31, 2003

This meeting was a totally lucky accident. I drove into the city in the morning to meet D. and Christy for brunch at this very cool place called Yaffa's in the East Village. The decor has to be seen to be believed. I could not possibly do it justice.

We talked about Lee, of course, amongst many other fun topics. Christy showed us prints she'd ordered of the gorgeous pics she took of Lee the previous month. After much thudding and drooling, we headed downtown a bit to the Pearl River mart for two floors of amazingly inexpensive knick-knack shopping.

Outside the store, I asked (pleaded might be a better word) D. to call Lee to see if he was around. We weren't expecting him to be, but the not knowing was driving me crazy. So she called and he was home! I was pretty excited just knowing that.

She told him she was in NYC with "your Number One fan." LOL. "You're with me?" he asked. Very cute. He said he was going to walk his dog and would call her back. We headed uptown and had some beverages at some coffee shop or another that I can't remember the name of because I was pretty much in Lee-land at this point. My whole body just got flooded with nervous energy.

He called soon after we arrived and told us to meet him at the Empire Diner (the one where he used to work) at 4 p.m., but he could only stay a little while because he had a barbeque to go to at 6. So we walked over from the coffee shop and arrived a few minutes early. We sat at an outdoor table and waited. 

Sure enough, I noticed him a couple of minutes later. He was about a half a block away and since I didn't want to just keep staring at him until he arrived, I turned to tell Christy he was coming. I was bursting with the need to just jump out of my seat. You'd think after all the times I've seen him, this nervousness would go away but it doesn't.

When he got closer to the table, I turned to look at him again and he greeted us. He had his dog, Rasta, with him. (That dog was angelically good during our visit.) I stood up to give him a hug and I accidentally stepped on his foot. I am such a klutz! I apologized. "Jesus, Anne!" he scolded me in that charming way he has.

Then he gave a hug to D. and Christy, too. Treats for everyone! *g* We all sat down. And here's where everything in my memory is completely out of order. You guys know how I get when I see Lee. My brain just turns to mush.

Early in the visit, I asked Lee if he'd seen the new pictures of himself on the LeeTergesen.com site and he said, "Yes." Christy took out the prints she made to show him. Just then, another guy named Lee walked by and said, "Hey, LT." Heh. I thought it was cute that he calls Lee the same thing we do on line. Anyway, this guy was a friend of his, I guess, cause they chatted for several minutes. 

Then the very charming Empire Diner host came back to the table and he knew Lee, too, so they chatted for a bit, too. Don't these people *know* that they are supposed to leave Lee to me when I'm here? Jeez!

So, when we finally got Lee's attention back, he looked at the pics. He complimented the pictures, but said he preferred to see himself in moving pictures. He thought he looked old in still photos. Old?!?! I was aghast. The man is entirely too self-critical! "Actors!" D. said, sounding exasperated. Exactly!

We all assured him that he looked quite wonderful in these pictures and so did pretty much everyone else who looked at them. And he looked mind-numbingly good today all casual in jeans and a T-shirt with a little scruffle on his face.

He joked (at least I hope it was a joke) about getting Botox to get rid of some lines. "No.no.no.no," I said emphatically. Ladies, I think you need to write Lee some letters and tell him how stunningly gorgeous he looks in these pictures. Seriously, I am not kidding. I'm doing it. It has to be done. *g*

For those who are curious, he said he liked this picture the best but thought he looked too skinny in this pic and very bulky in this pic.

Later, he said to me, "I haven't seen you since you saw 'Bark,' right?" What a memory! I said that was true and asked if he'd gotten my letter about it. He said yes, he had and thanked me. I thought it was sweet of him to bring it up because I did want to talk to him about it and just hadn't brought it up yet. It's like he sees that it's hard for me to start conversations with him and wants to help me out. Or maybe he just wants praise. LOL. Either way, it works for me. I would love to spend an afternoon answering his questions about what I love about his work. It would be heavenly.

The only thing I actually said, though, was "Bark was fabulous and you were fabulous in it." Which is true, but I was much more eloquent in my letters. I thought he might tease me about my review of Bark on Amazon.com (which D. said he had read) but he didn't.

Then D. brought up the cover of the Bark DVD, which Lee has not seen. (It has a picture of a woman's ass. She's wearing shorts and has a patch of a heart over one of the pockets.) She described it for him and he looked very perplexed. "I don't get it," he said at one point. Neither do we. Then he joked that some teenage boys were going to rent it because of the girl's ass on the cover and while they were watching it, they'd be going, "What the fuck is this?" Or something to that effect.

There was some chit-chat about television. Christy brought up the MTV awards and asked what Lee thought about the kiss between the ladies. Lee's reply? "I thought me and Chris were hotter." Uh, yeah. We'd have to agree.

Later, D. was talking about the thumb movies and claimed that they were the "best thing I've ever seen." Christy asked, "What about Lee and Chris kissing?" D.: "Okay, they were the second best thing I've ever seen." Amen, girlfriend. Lee looked quite pleased with that.

Lee chattered for quite awhile about this Cold Play video that I have not seen but apparently it has some amazing special effects. I sort of got lost in the sound of his voice for awhile, so some of the actual content escaped me. When they asked me a question, I had to admit I didn't know what they were talking about.

So they teased me relentlessly and started coming up with things I was probably thinking and every single one had something to do with Lee, of course. LOL. Then Lee came up with one of his own. "She was thinking, 'If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?' " Of course, I blushed and turned red. And then I scolded him for being in cahoots with them and I whacked him on the knee. Of course, I really didn't mind.

Later, Christy and Lee had this very funny conversation about me that went something like this:

Christy: You know what's wrong with Anne?

Lee: Well, there's that...hmm, no.

Christy: But then there's the time...no

Lee: Yeah and how about...no.

LOL. And it went on and on while I giggled and grinned. I'm pretty sure I'm not even close on the wording, but the sentiment is there. *g*

At some point, we were talking about neighborhoods in New York, and Lee told us he'd been up in Spanish Harlem recently to have his motorcycle re-seated and while he waited, he "cruised" around the hood for three hours. Christy remarked, "You cruised without a seat?" LOL! "No!" he said indignantly. "I walked." Christy pointed out that one would have to be crazy to walk around Spanish Harlem for three hours.

The waiter brought the check and I said I wanted to pay. Lee shook his head and took out his wallet, so I had to insist. After I paid, he said thanks and then he leaned over to give me a very sweet kiss, which was totally unexpected. It was a very nice and I recovered my wits enough to kiss him back. *sigh*

Then, he proceeded to tell D. and Christy that I kissed him with tongue. Christy encouraged him by asking, "Was it good?" Lee played along by responding, "Yes." So I was pretty much red all afternoon.

Then I lamented the fact that I could not come up with a snappy comeback and Christy commented that I would probably think of one on the way home. Then Lee launched into his tale of him and his buddy at Ozzfest, which he told on Ask Lee, but not one of us reminded him of that. He was so adorable, we didn't have the heart to say anything. Plus, I love hearing him talk, ya know?

Around this time, he said he had to get going and I stood up to give him a hug goodbye. I gave him a really tight hug and told him how much I appreciated his coming to meet us today and that I had really missed him. I honestly don't remember how he responded. He probably said "anytime" or "no problem," but my brain was just not functioning well at that moment.

Then, I started getting really nervous again because there was something I've wanted to ask him for probably a year and I haven't had the nerve. So I was practicing in my head and deciding if I was really going to do it. I finally said, "Lee, can I ask you a question?" He said, "Sure." So, first I told him that I wanted to give a donation to the Susan Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer and that I wanted to do it in his mother's name. So, could he tell me his mother's name?

He seemed rather surprised and touched by it and told me her name. And I'm pretty sure he said he appreciated it. Again, my brain was not fully functional. *g* (D. tells me he said, "God, you are so sweet." And I'm willing to take her word for it. LOL.)

And then he and Christy started joking again, saying something to the effect that "just when you think you can't love Anne anymore, she does something like this." I'm telling you, I was floating.

Then I remembered Christy had her camera, so I asked if Lee would let her take a picture of him and me. He agreed and even picked up Rasta to be in the picture.

Color me happy.

Meeting One
March 19, 2002

Meeting Two
May 19, 2002

Meeting Three
October 7, 2002

Meeting Four
December 7, 2002

Meeting Five
January 28, 2003

Meeting Six
August 31, 2003

Meeting Seven
November 13, 2004

Meeting Eight
January 7, 2005

Meeting Nine
May 31, 2008

Meeting Ten
May 2, 2010

Meeting 11
Dec. 4, 2010

Meeting 12
Nov. 23, 2011

Meeting 13
June 9, 2012

Meeting 14
Aug. 17, 2013

Meeting 15
June 14, 2015

Meeting 16
October 15, 2017

Meeting 17
June 8, 2019