Dear Noam, happy ninety! These words would like to be my present to you. They will not be capable of expressing the size of my debt, gratitude, and memories, but that would probably be asking too much of words. One first memory is entering your office as a newly arrived graduate student to talk about some arcane phenomenon of Basque, which you picked up on immediately, offering some insights and possible explanation avenues. It was not a frightening experience at all; it was rather a pleasant exchange, first of many to come, not always about language, also about the world and its ways. I never felt hurried or constricted to a topic line in our meetings and I am grateful for that as well. You made me think of language in a profoundly different way, you showed me to question everything and keep on questioning after that and this is the best intellectual gift you gave me, which I still keep and use. Eskerrik asko!