Succession

Overdue, she laughed at our surprise
she was still tearing through the
forest trails with her husky, the
burden she carried not slowing her
one iota, this robust young woman
with her blond ponytail and bright
smile, swinging past us as we made
our way down a steep incline. Out
of sight out of mind as the saying
goes, so we were ripe for the surprise
of seeing her this steaming hot
morning huffing up the trail behind us
husky in tow, pushing one of those
enormous wheeled strollers meant
to challenge awkward terrain, its
contents shielded from the sun's glare
in the overheated atmosphere. Her
baby of six weeks contentedly asleep
unaware that she has a future before
her demanding she be at the very
least as tough and resilient as her
mother through exposure to nature's
elements from birth to inheritance.