Kathryn Erbe in LIC filming LO:SVU on 9-7-2012

I had received a tweet from Antje aka @havers_barbera with the scoop about Kathryn Erbe filming the "Acceptable Loss" episode of SVU in Queens on Friday, September 7. I didn't reply right away, as I had just lost my mom and I was feeling overwhelmed emotionally. I didn't tell Antje about Mom's passing in my reply that Thursday night, I simply said "Thank you, Antje." On Friday morning, after sending my brother off to school, still unaware of our tragedy, Dad and I went to the funeral home to make arrangements for Mom, order the flowers for her wake and funeral Mass the following week and get a bite to eat at the Kellogg Diner. By 1 PM when I arrived home, I was pretty beat and planned to take a nap. However, I remembered Antje's tweet and decided that I wanted to visit the SVU set in Long Island City to see Kate. Why not? If I didn't go, I knew I would regret not going, despite the circumstances. Plus, I wanted to try out my birthday present, my brand new Canon Powershot camera with a 35X optical zoom feature. So, in my Honda Accord and off to LIC! The cast and crew were camped out for several blocks along 36th Avenue near the Queensboro Bridge, and I parked by Ravenswood Houses, just two blocks from where they were filming exteriors near a private home on 11th Street. Just after 2 PM, I spotted Kate arriving on set from across the street and tried to snap some pics, but we were shooed away from the corner by a production assistant, as they were about to resume filming and we couldn't remain so close to the action without getting in the frame. I ended up on the other side of 36th Avenue, trying to focus my camera lense and get a good closeup of Kate and the rest of the SVU actors, but she was sitting underneath a tree and the shade made my view of her too dark to shoot from a distance. A woman named Jasmine and her three young sons had just arrived from a nearby school wanting to see Mariska Hartigay, who was also on set, and we crossed 36th Street and stood outside the fence of the house where the SVU crew was camped out. Several cast members were seated in their casting chairs under the shady tree in the 80 plus degree heat and I called out "Kate! Kate!" She heard me and got up from her chair and came over to greet me with a sweet smile. I gave her a hug and introduced my new friends to her before we posed for some pics along that fence.

I spoke to Kate briefly and congratulated her on crossing over to "SVU." I also told her about Antje's message to explain how I knew she'd be in LIC that afternoon. Kate was happy to see me, as always, and that made me feel better. Then I heard myself say that I almost didn't come by the set that afternoon because my mother had just passed away. Why did I do that? Babble, much? Well, Kate frowned and told me how sorry she was and listened while I spoke about Alberto and my worry about breaking the news to him. She was very kind and I appreciated Kate taking the time to listen. Later, as I was leaving to get home before Alberto got home from school, Kate wished me luck with telling Alberto about Mom's death, which I was planning to do over the weekend. I asked Kate about whether Goren would be mentioned on SVU and she said that he would not appear, only that when asked about her partner, Eames would just say "He left." Wow.