“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” — Aesop

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

THIS ARTICLE is a special milestone — No. 100 in the continuing series of articles on the Tucker Paving website blog. We didn’t exactly plan it this way, but the article comes during an extra-special week for the nation and for this company.

It’s the week of Thanksgiving, of course, but it’s also anniversary week for Tucker Paving. The company was founded — incorporated — on Monday, Nov. 21, 1994.

We’re grateful for that humble start during Thanksgiving week 23 years ago — with two employees and borrowed equipment, we fondly recall — and we’re truly grateful for the success the company has enjoyed since then.

What else has the Tucker Paving team — now numbering 300 employees — counting its blessings this year? The list is long, but here are a few more things that quickly come to mind:

  • We’re grateful for the companies, the government bodies and agencies, the organizations, and the individuals that took a chance on us during our company’s infancy.
  • We’re grateful for ALL the customers — longtime, repeat and even one-time customers — that have entrusted us with their dreams, projects, and property these past 23 years.
  • We’re grateful — the company management is grateful — for all the hard-working, dedicated, talented, resourceful, committed-to-quality, and safety-conscious employees we have on board here at Tucker Paving. The team really is great!
  • We’re grateful simply for the opportunity to work — to make an honest living, to provide for our families, to help others, to contribute to and support the communities in which we live and the causes we care about. There is worth in work.
  • We’re grateful for our top-notch suppliers and service providers — the folks and companies that keep the products and raw materials coming to us, that help keep our tools, machinery and vehicles operational, so we can keep building.
  • We’re grateful for a good economy and the opportunity, through our construction activities, to help make it even better.
  • We’re grateful for the excellent working environment we have — both in climate and for business. Florida, Polk County and the city of Winter Haven are business friendly, and it’s tough not to love Central Florida for the weather.
  • We’re grateful for personal blessings — family, friends, home and hearth, health, churches, schools, faith, involvements, possessions, and so much more.
  • We’re grateful that we live in the greatest and most-blessed nation in the world — the United States of America.
  • We’re grateful for the brilliant and courageous Founders who, with the odds very much stacked against them, gave birth to this wonderful nation.
  • We’re grateful for the liberties we enjoy as a people.
  • We’re grateful to the U.S. armed forces — servicemen and women past and present — for defending and protecting the land we love and the freedoms we have.
  • We’re grateful for Old Glory — the Stars and Stripes; the Red, White and Blue; the U.S. flag — and all the positive ideals and the nation she represents. Here at Tucker Paving, we proudly fly her, we honor her, we respect her, we protect her, and we pledge our allegiance to her. Long may she wave!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We hope it’s joyous start to the holiday season. We hope it’s just like this week is for us — extra special.