Carson City resident lends perspective during power outage
In just the few minutes I stood with E.D. Crouser at the intersection of Highway 50 and College Parkway/Fairview Drive Wednesday afternoon, it seems like one chaotic event after another reigned down on motorists lined up dozens deep in the midst of widespread power outages that struck the area.
There was the city utilities crew feverishly working to install an emergency mobile generator so that the traffic light at one of Carson City's busiest intersections could get up and running again.
No sooner was this issue solved, then came the lights and sirens of a Nevada Highway Patrol cruiser entering the intersection on its way to a call further east up the highway.
A few more moments later, a paramedics unit approached the intersection from College Parkway, turning left and heading east in the same direction as NHP.
But through it all, E.D. Crouser maintained her genuinely happy face, complete with her trademark red foam clown nose for whimsical effect.
In spite of the generalized chaos of the intersection -- compounded by heat, noise and congestion -- Crouser waved to motorists while holding one of her cardboard signs with a simple message.
Smile, focus on the good, it said.
Crouser not withstanding, relatively few of us think about that in the middle of chaos. I know I don't.
I just wanted to get my photos and get back to the safety and quiet serenity of my home.
But not Crouser.
The 34-year-old Carson City resident and mother of three takes time out of her day -- either on her days off and often after work -- to try and put smiles on other peoples' faces.
She goes out of her way to help her neighbors see the silver lining that exists in every dark cloud.
When I asked Crouser if she knew about the power outages, she nodded.
"I know," she said. "That's why I'm out here."
Crouser knew an event like this would dampen the spirits of her neighbors.
On my way to the scene, I had just come from the intersection of Little Lane and Saliman Road, which was partially closed off due to a foldable gazebo that got caught on the power lines in front of Fremont Elementary School.
I saw and heard a lady screaming and cursing from her car toward another driver.
Tensions have been high all over town this afternoon, and understandably so.
Crouse intuitively knew this, so she set out to turn our fortunes around one smile and wave at a time.
I'm just glad I was there to see it.
Cars honking, hands waving out of windows, and people smiling right back at the lady whose mission it is to spread a little bit of happiness and help break the tension we all experience in our daily lives.
Now the power is being restored to parts of town, and we appear to be over the hump.
Fittingly, it's Wednesday. Hump Day.
In the spirit of E.D. Crouser, we are half way there, folks. We are over the hump.
Thank you once again, E.D. Crouser, for reminding me and everyone else that things could be worse. Thank you for reminding us to count our blessings and think about the good things we still have in our lives.
And on behalf of a grateful community, thank you for being you.
- Carson City
- Afternoon
- car
- cars
- carson
- City
- closed
- clown
- college
- community
- Community
- Community,
- d
- day
- driver
- E
- Elementary School
- Emergency
- event
- Experience
- Fairview
- Fremont
- Fremont Elementary
- Fremont Elementary School
- happiness
- help
- highway
- home
- mission
- Nevada
- Nevada Highway Patrol
- NHP
- photos
- Power outage
- Red
- running
- Safety
- school
- silver
- smile
- spirits
- struck
- thank you
- Trademark
- WAVE
- Wednesday
- Traffic