Only in Reflection

Mitch Bloomquist
Executive Director
Tilt-Up Concrete Association

There’s a familiar line from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” that often finds its way into moments of reflection: “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” It’s a comforting thought—that our unique path through life or industry was boldly chosen and set us apart. But a closer reading of the poem reveals something more nuanced, even more honest. Frost describes both paths as “really about the same,” noting that the distinction between them only becomes meaningful in retrospect. The poem is less a celebration of individualism and more a meditation on how we make meaning of our choices after we’ve lived them. That line came to mind recently as we gathered for our awards gala—an evening that looked back across lifetimes of contribution, invention, and service. We weren’t just honoring achievements; we were acknowledging the way time itself transforms a career into a legacy.

That same spirit of reflection guides us now, as the Tilt-Up Concrete Association approaches its 40th anniversary. It’s a remarkable milestone—one that invites us not only to consider where we’ve been, but to ask how we’ve made meaning of that journey. It’s tempting at moments like this to mark time with a simple narrative—to say we’ve come so far, or to suggest that we’ve followed some rare or visionary course. But the truth is always more complex. Like Frost’s path through the woods, the road we’ve taken often looked quite ordinary at the start. The significance was not always obvious. It revealed itself only in what we built along the way.

Forty years ago, a group of professionals gathered not to disrupt an industry, but to support a method—to give it structure, rigor, and community. In doing so, they built more than an association. They established a culture of shared learning, mutual respect, and collective advancement that remains the foundation of our work today.

Throughout this year, we will mark the occasion—quietly at times, more publicly at others—by allowing the theme of legacy to surface in our conversations, our publications, and our shared moments. But even as we look back, we remain a forward-looking organization. The achievements we recognize are not monuments to the past. They are reminders that the work of shaping an association—like shaping a career—is not done in sweeping gestures but in steady choices. It’s only through reflection that we begin to see the architecture of it all. The values carried forward. The decisions that mattered more than we realized at the time. The people whose contributions now feel indispensable.

Anniversaries invite us to look back. But they also ask us to choose, again, what kind of future we want to build. What we honor this year is not just longevity—it is direction. Not just tradition—but intention.

And in that way, perhaps what matters most isn’t which road we chose—but how we carried ourselves along it.