My work on Ktunaxa, a language isolate spoken in the interior of British Columbia and neighbouring Idaho and Montana, began with a field methods course that I taught in 2021-22. Due to the pandemic, we were online, and this opened up the opportunity for speakers in the Kootenays to join us. I have been honoured to continue working with speakers ever since, and was able to take my first field trip to ʔaq̓am in 2023. I am grateful to work with our amazing and patient teachers: Dorothy Alpine, Laura Birdstone, Violet Birdstone and Alfred Joseph.