So, this has been weighing pretty heavily on my heart lately…

So one of our cameramen was gone for something like two months. Turns out he spent something like a month and a half doing insurance claims for hurricane victims from a hotel room in Minnesota and then two weeks or so in Florida. So the Sunday before Christmas he was suddenly back.

The director had seen him before me and kind of warned me: this man came home to his wife saying she was leaving him. No warning, no specific reason, a big shock… just… gone.

So this blew us all away and over the last several weeks we’ve seen him being a complete wreck. It’s heart wrenching and we just have no idea what to do. It’s not like we are best friends, but we’re more than acquaintances, and it’s hard to know what we should say do, what’s appropriate, what’s not.

Today he showed up about two minutes after we’d started and he was sitting in the back and I went over and told him we were glad to see him and I gave him a quick hug and pat on the back. What else can I do? Steve said later, “and that little bit was probably more helpful than you’ll ever know.” And I hope so. The main director then talked to him for a few minutes while I directed the first part of the service. This guy sometimes sticks around for editing but he didn’t today – though he did that first day back and he surprised me by just bringing it up and trying to talk about it, but it was just so hard for him the conversation didn’t last long.

So… I want to be there. I want to be a friend, a comfort. But I am at such a loss at what to do. Because, again, it’s not that we’re strangers but we’re not what you’d call best friends either – just meaning I don’t know him all that well. But I know he’s a good guy and he works hard and to his fullest and he loves his family dearly.

What do you do?