By Matt Nicholson

She is so strong. Now repeat that four times from four different voices.

Before I share this random observation, though, let me tell you about my week as the mayor of the best small town in America.

During a recent Seymour Redevelopment Commission meeting, we had a chance to discuss the Crossroads Community Matching Grant. We talked about the history of how it has helped Seymour over the last several years and what the future looks like. During this discussion, commission members asked some good questions and voted to continue their support of the matching program to help raise the quality of streets in Seymour.

With some hard work and a little luck, we will be ready to apply for the 2022 CCMG by the time you read this weekly update. Thank you again to the commission for its continued support, and fingers crossed, we land another round of CCMG for 2022.

As the Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety wrapped up 2021, it honored the last of the anniversaries. Each month, we share the five, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years of employment. We take a second to say thank you for their service and recognize them for being with the city team.

In 2021, we had 29 employees reach one of these milestones. Today, I give a big shoutout to all of the members of the city team for all they do to keep our community running strong and an extra shoutout for those who celebrated a major anniversary.

On Dec. 31, I had a chance to perform my 51st wedding since starting to serve as mayor. Even after 51 weddings, this is still one of my more enjoyable parts of my job. Over the last two years, I have gotten to tell longtime friends, kids I have watched grow up and complete strangers that they may now kiss the bride. Each time, it still brings as big of a smile to my face as it does theirs.

Congratulations to Charles and Donna on your wedding, and congratulations to all of the other 50 couples over the last two years.

The last thing I will update before getting back to that opener is about a new fitness challenge I started with 2022: Walk/run 30 miles a month and/or bike 100 miles a month. Do one or do both, but let’s start getting active again as a community. Check out my social media to learn more.

Another way it has been said of the four ladies from the opening lines is “She is a beast.”

What fascinates me, though, is that I am hearing from four different ladies with an age range that spans more than five decades how amazing they think someone else is. They don’t see what they do individually as being that hard, but they see keeping up with a workout partner or classmate as a total challenge. They have all said to me at some point during the last year that “she is a beast” or “she is so strong” about each other. I don’t know if they are taking the time to tell one another, but they should be.

We all should be taking the time to raise the bar for our family and friends. As we do so, we will forever be shocked by how much good we start to see in the world when we are focused on noticing it.

Serena Williams said the following about building each other up: “We need to build each other up and promote the good work we see as we do so. The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: Be strong, be extremely kind and above all, be humble.”

Matt Nicholson is the mayor of Seymour. Send comments to [email protected].