Immediacy: no delay

A few weeks ago, Grandmother asked me if I appreciated immediacy. I didn't understand what she was asking (is that a common way to use the word "immediacy" anyway?). But then she held up a scrap of paper, maybe it was even a napkin, not sure, and said, "This is what I wrote when your mother called to tell me about your birth." The paper had my name written on it, how many pounds I weighed, and the time I was born. I don't know if she had saved it purposefully or on accident, but she still had the paper she had written all my details on when I was born!

I'm not sure if I'd ever consciously labeled my appreciation of certain old things as an appreciation of immediacy (I'm also not sure if anyone but my grandmother uses that word that way), but I realized that is what I love about so many old things. Dressing up in the dress my mom wore to her rehearsal dinner. Walking down the street where Dante lived in Florence. Going to Civil War battlefields. Somehow, just being near something that was around when something historic happened makes one feel a little connected. Or at least it makes me feel that way. It's like it takes away the huge time delay that separates you from it.

Something cool I learned recently concerns this idea, as well. The hymn "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel" is an original Byzantine hymn. The words and music and all! That's why it sounds like an old monastic chant. Because it is. How amazing is that! We are singing the same hymn people sang 1200 years ago! What!? I love that!
(Just fyi, this information comes from Byron, who often shares random and little-known facts, so I can't tell you exactly where you could find this info in print :) But I believe him.)