To the Editor:

On what turned out to be my three-hour trek from Danbury Hospital to my home in the borough, I passed several spots where I thought the traffic would clear and I would be cruising down Route 6 with all the rest of my new traveling buddies: great big tractor trailers, confused folks trying to get around route 84, etc. With one brave fellow's help, we managed to get past Taunton Lake Road. We figured, okay, get past Blackman Road, and it will be clear sailing.

What a shock to find the Mt Pleasant area blocked all the way across, and a police car directing us left on Diamond Drive. I laughed like a maniac until I noticed that I didn't know the way through Diamond to get to Tunnel Road. My purpose in writing is to thank the young man, standing alone in the dusk, pointing us left (instead of leading us into an unknown neighborhood). By the time I made it home through Currituck Road, guided by Eversource trucks and an amazingly confident fire truck, I realized how lucky I was.

These unknown folks who stood outside their homes and directed us, the wary but unknowing, through the forests of downed trees and wires, are the everyday heroes we hear about but rarely encounter. Hats off to them as they recover from this storm that we will be telling our grandchildren about some day!

Yours sincerely,

Mary E. Thomas

22 Juniper Road, Newtown May 16, 2018