World without Nana

I wrote this one night last week, it will be framed and next to the Guest Book at Nana's service:

Since the day I was born, I've only ever known a world where my Nana existed.
A world where she took the greatest joy in her family,
where she loved Papa with a passionate heart that we should all strive for,
where you could see her never ending smiles shine through her eyes while she held her babies.
A world where she would hold her head high while she never waivered in graciously putting ANYONE in their place,
where she filled a room with her genuine laugh and never faultering hospitality,
where she was the glue, the rock that everyone leaned on,
where her inspiring words encouraged us to the greatest dreams and lifted us up over the bumps.
A world where her strength and courage was ingrained in everything she did and her generous spirit never stopped giving.

On January 14th we were forced into a different world,
one where her beautiful face, those loving eyes will now be forever etched into our hearts.
A world where we cannot quite grasp the notion that a woman who was so ALIVE,
who was every where in every thing we did,
could possibly be gone.
To even begin to imagine I'd never feel that little hand slip into mine as we walked,
we'd never see her flour-covered face sweating over the oven,
or hear her hollar "Edwaaaard!!"
How long will it be until we no longer expect her to come around the corner or to hear her voice on the other end of the phone?

Now she is in a forever place-our hearts-
where she is protected from pain,
where she will never have another hurt,
where she can bake in the grandest of kitchens,
where Pavorati serenades her with Ave Maria,
where her stitchin' gals sip coffee,
where her baby runs into the room for one more kiss,
where she goes for walks on the beach with Papa every day.

She is our forever Nana.
We were so lucky to have her in this life,
and even luckier to have her in our hearts forever.