Happy 2012 to all.....

By now everyone has said their last goodbyes to 2011 and officially welcomed 2012.  Personally, 2011 will go down as a year of very big changes for me. At this time last year I was just recovering from another busy peak season at FedEx in Joplin Missouri. Then came a huge snowstorm that crippled the city, one in which we actually shut down for a day at FedEx.

But nothing could compare to the monstrous F5 tornado that devastated a third of the city and took 160 lives with it. Hundreds more were severely injured and many families lost everything they owned. It was destruction like I have never witnessed and hope I never do again. The city continues to rebuild and slowly but surely Joplin will recover from the physical devastation, but it will take much longer, if ever that the emotional scars will heal.

When I mention Micki Sayre most reading this blog will not recognize her name. Marla 'Micki' Sayre was a person that I had the privilege of working with for 13 years at FedEx as a fellow operations manager. On October 9, 2011 Micki lost the most courageous battle with cancer I have ever witnessed. For 3 years she endured countless radiation and chemo treatments and she never gave up hope. Numerous days when she shouldn't have been at work she was there....with a smile,  and no mention of the toll the cancer and the treatments were taking on her.

Marla "Micki" Sayre

She was the type of person who gave so much of her time to and for others....rarely doing things just for herself. It's still hard for me to imagine that she is gone, I still think of her as occupying the same office, always at work early and ready for the new day.....and of course always wearing that famous smile of hers. I could write until next week about the type of person she was and of course all the memories. Simply put, she was a wonderful human being....she touched many lives and the world is a little colder without her.....and her warm smile.