RIP To The Alley of My Youth

I'm sure this looks like, well, an alley to you. Even a moderately attractive one. And you're correct on both points. 

It is also The-Shatterer-of-Memories. 

You see, this is the alley behind the house where I grew up. The brick building in the background? The church where I was married. I cannot count how many games of catch I played back here with my Dad, how many times I walked down the alley to and from church, how many times I used it as a shortcut on my bike. 

That entire time, from my early childhood in the late 70's almost up until present day, that alley was a rough, potholed filled obstacle course made of cement embedded with small stones  that would work loose and play further havoc with your tires. 

It looked very much like the  setting I used it for whenever I pretended to be a soldier: a recently shelled and bombed European road of WWII. 

And now? Now it's . . . pretty. Ish. 

Sigh.