Dear Ivan,

I am so sorry that I cannot attend the wonderful workshop organized in your honour next week. I am stuck here in London due to a variety of teaching and administrative commitments.

You have had a profound impact on my thinking about syntax and semantics over the years, as should be clear from some of the things that I have published. You strongly influenced the way in which I have come to study the interaction of grammar and cognition, and I am grateful to you for the insights that you have shared with me.

It is also largely your fault that I took up guitar, got into music, and started a band. I had secretely wanted to do this for years, but seeing you play at several LSA Summer Institutes, and jamming with you and John Beavers on a visit to Stanford years ago convinced me that linguists can be rock stars (or, in my case, incompetent but joyously committed blues players).

But it is your profound generosity of spirit and your wonderful friendship that shine brightest for me. They have enriched my life, and they will continue to do so in the future.

With deep affection,
Shalom