So, you might be wondering what it is about this picture that's so special.
There's no one in it.
There's no notable landmark in this picture that one should be looking at.
There's literally nothing significant about it except for there being a road, a bunch of (parked) cars, a row of trees, a couple of steps, and some landscaped plants.
It's a non-descript looking picture.
And, in a way, I might say, it is true.
This lane here is but an ordinary lane in an ordinary suburb in an ordinary neighborhood.
It is no trunk road.
it is no major road.
It is not a road where buses trundle up and down.
Yet this is a road that (some) people might still recognize.
Including, but not excluding Miss Brown.
For four years, five days a week (except during school holidays), she would be here on this road at the wheel of the family car as she fetched her son to and fro from school which- at that time- occupied the compound running parallel to this road.
In the original picture the family car is parked right in front of the school's entrance, and her son- wearing his school uniform- is posing next to it.
With the family's permission, I've chopped that part off.
They don't really want to feature the family car.
I don't know why.
Most of the time it was her at the wheel.
On occasion, however, it was her husband.
I don't know who took the picture.
I don't know what prompted them to take the picture- maybe they were trying to finish up the film- but it's a great thing that they did.
Because life is such that what seems like a very ordinary thing on a very ordinary day eventually becomes a precious memory one day.
Sometimes the trip was one way- in the morning.
Sometimes the trip was two- morning and afternoon.
We know she didn't pick up her son from school every day.
There are lively narratives of him visiting his friends' homes after school, him going to Parkway Parade (which was in the opposite direction) on his way home, or sneaking out to the nearby McDonalds between the hours of dismissal and extra classes in the afternoon.
It, however, did happen on an oftentimes basis, that is, she'd did it whenever she could.
And it was something she was very proud of.
We know- she's mentioned it many, many times.
Fetching her son to and fro from school was her way, we presume, of involving herself with her son's education and school life.
Every parent has their own way of being involved with their children's lives.
This was hers.
Especially since Miss Brown was not the kind to involve herself very much with his academic prowess.
There're no stories of her sitting down to help him with his schoolwork.
There're also no stories of her buying assessment books from Popular Bookstore for him to practice on, or her bringing him to tuition classes on Saturday afternoons.
Academically wise, he was probably left very much on his own.
On the other hand, she did join him on school excursions from time to time. .
Not during this time- schools had become more particular- but when he was younger, when she could (still) accompany him (and his classmates) as a sort of parent-chaperone.
I'm not sure where exactly she went along with him on these excursions, but there were a couple of museums, the Zoo maybe, and perhaps even a mushroom farm or two.
It would be wonderful if I could include pictures from all those excursions that Miss Brown went along to, but there're all the kids around her and I'd have to put in all the emojis.