Susan's Scoop

Moving Into a New Season

Last week while flipping through my Reader’s Digest magazine I came across an article about a group of women who had been attacked by a cougar while mountain biking. I of course immediately thought to myself, “I need to send this to Caitlin to warn her!” And then the hard realization hit me that somewhere along the way, I had turned into my mother.

Now, I am in my early forties having somewhat of an existential midlife crisis. Is the ultimate dream really to live inside your own personal box and roll from place to place in shiny metal cylinders on wheels in a real-life Richard Scarry world?? It seems so unnatural in a world full of nature, mountains, air, and life.

Here in our own household, the seasons are shifting. Since the pandemic, we have been in our “travel season”. We’ve explored pyramids and underground tombs in Egypt, safaried our way through southern Africa, watched Fallas sculptures burn in Spain, rode bullet trains in Japan, sailed to a glacier in Patagonia, and hiked a up volcano in New Zealand. But next year our oldest child is starting high school and our youngest is starting middle school – and the season is beginning to shift as they have more obligations and need space to grow into themselves.

I’ve recently been listening to the book “How to Winter” by Kari Leibowitz (yes, I put it on hold at the library about 6 months ago, but ironically didn’t receive it until it’s already over 100 degrees here in Texas!). She discusses how northern locations embrace the cycle of winter by purposefully incorporating traditions and activities to look forward to – cozy dinners by candlelight, doing puzzles by the fire, even holding festivals and community events that would normally only be relegated to summer months in most cities.

Although the book is focused on a ‘calendar’ season, this started to make me think about reframing the seasonal shift that is happening in my own life. We may be moving out of our ‘travel’ era, but what can I incorporate into this new season to make it feel warm and welcoming? Maybe more date nights with my husband, intentional outings with my kids before they leave the nest, and weekly hikes in the woods… which of course brings me back to the cougars. I can’t forget to warn Caitlin about the cougars!

Tax Notes

📝 Quarterly Tax Payments are due June 15^th:

I discussed last year why these aren’t actually on the “calendar quarters” (the government needs tax receipts in September before implementing the new fiscal year budget in October), but I still think it’s kind of annoying.

📝 Potential SALT (State and Local Tax) Cap Increase:

Towards the end of last year, I mentioned that for those of you in Texas and other high property tax states, it could make sense to wait to pay your 2024 property taxes until January of 2025, and then pay your 2025 property tax in December 2025 - just in case the SALT Cap tax deduction was increased and you could bundle the two payments into one tax year. Well, in the current version of the new tax bill it’s been lifted to $40k! Who knows what it will be in the final implemented version of the bill, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on in case it now makes more sense for you to itemize those tax deductions rather than taking the standard deduction.

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