Jeff Hampton – Page 84 – Jeff Hampton, Writer

July 6, 2021July 6, 2021

Forever

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Watching “A Capitol Fourth” on PBS, I had a thought as the military band struck up “The Stars and Stripes Forever”: they were playing the same arrangement I’ve played countless times over the years beginning in junior high school. And listening to a recording from 1909, it’s pretty much the same arrangement that composer John Philip Sousa premiered in 1897. I find a curious comfort in knowing I’ve been part of something that has been so constant.

June 29, 2021

Swing it Forward

For Wilshire Baptist Church

It was one of those crazy, amazing coincidences that can’t be explained but just enjoyed – and paid forward when the opportunity comes.

After nine years of Texas weather, our porch swing was falling apart. The chains were rusting and the fake poly wicker was popping off in pieces, exposing the metal and wood frame underneath and generally looking shabby. Saturday afternoon we visited a couple of specialty stores we thought might have swings but they didn’t. We decided to look at Lowe’s on Northwest Highway before going home and shopping online, which is how we got the first swing.

June 22, 2021

For the Hwyl of It

For Wilshire Baptist Church

We went to the movies for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic and saw “Dream Horse,” one of those British movies with quirky characters and a good story that gets critical acclaim from the few people who see it. It’s a true story about a small Welsh village where the people are just grinding along from day to day with not much happening to get excited about. That changes when a checker at the grocery store gets the idea to form a syndicate among the townspeople to buy a mare, breed it with a stallion that has racing blood, and raise a contender.