Grandma Lainie was never your run of the mill Grandma. Certainly not the type to give you milk and cookies or sit quietly in a rocking chair, Grandma was always a bit extraordinary. She knew it and she made sure that those around her knew it too. She also believed from the bottom of her heart that all of us in her family have something that make us extra special too. When I think about Grandma I think mostly about her thirst for education, how she loved her art and her painting, and how she always wanted to stay hip, stylish and up to date on everything from politics to religion. I have many good and some not as good memories of Grandma, but every one of those memories makes me smile because they were just so Grandma. My favorite times with Grandma were when it was just the two of us. She would always tell me silly stories from when I was little and make an extra effort to make sure that we had a really nice and special visit. I remember when I was about 14 going to stay over at Grandma's in NYC for a night. She made such a big deal of our girl's night together. I remember we walked down from her apartment and got pizza pretty late that night and I thought it was so cool that I had a Grandma that would do stuff like that. When I went to visit her in Rochester years later she took me to her little coffee shop that she was so excited to live above. We talked for hours that day about all kinds of subjects. Though our visits and our talks were often spread far apart, each of my memories of Grandma remain vivid because she herself was larger than life. I am grateful for those memories. Jennifer Lynn Kendz