text: It was during a one-week ski trip to the Alps with my class, that a single goodbye with a smile as Dalena walked out of the door, my heart dropped. Never to remain in the same spot again. We were in the mild winter of 2026 and we all took the high-speed train from Brussels with my senior class, knowing that this is maybe the last time that the whole gang would see each other again. Emotions were high and we loved each moment of it because we all knew where each of us were going, some to University, but Dalena decided to work as a currency expert and freelance writer for a year while she thought about higher education. She was good enough in all of her interests to make a living out any of them. About her, all I could do was ask myself, was it her calm demeanor, her curly hair or the fact that she liked Hi-Riz, my favorite band, but I couldn’t figure out why I was crazy about her. As always, I thought - there was no chance she could like a regular guy like me. Later that day, after all of us were done playing board games on the night of our arrival in the snow-covered town of Obertauern, it was bedtime and the girls who had taken five hotel rooms left, as we completely ignored the bedtime schedule. As I sat on the carpet next to my best friend Max, I waved in a lazy sway motion but to my surprise she waved back and that’s when it happened. The smile that pierced through my heart like a bullet. Never was I to be the same or appreciate someone they way I did at that moment. The next day as we rushed down the slopes and raced each other, some with snowboards, others with snow skates, Dalena was leading the pack. She won, to no-one's surprise. Having led her volleyball team to multiple victories as captain the last two years, she was the sportiest person we knew. With hi-fives to celebrate, we would look back at those moments as some of the best weeks we had all experienced. Marking the end of the trip, Max and I decided to stay up late, and create a plan to confess all our feelings to the girls we liked. For me it was to be a letter, but for him a hologram recording, which I thought was cheesy, but he went on and made one by the pool... great lighting. Upon our return to Brussels, we each decided to go over and give the items over, knowing that if we chickened out, we would each consider the other a wimp for the rest of our lives. It was not until I was in front of Dalena that she immediately pulled out a polaroid picture of three of us winners that she took during the trip. Now was my chance, I thought, and the words came out swiftly and almost inaudibly. I let it all out, telling her that I would like her to marry me and move to Forest City, where I would be attending my University for the next two and a half years. As I walked back to Max, and Dalena walked over to Vanessa, I realized that everyone had left except the four of us. He could tell that I was shaking and wanted to go home immediately. I burst out "what did Vanessa say?" to which he shook his head and showed me the hologram drone he still had, meaning she didn’t take it. I felt his pain and didn't even think to relate to him what happened with my conversation with Dalena. She had said yes. At my University graduation, the only people present in my mind, out of the 5000 in the arena, were Dalena, our daughter Emma and our parents and friends. Such is life, I thought, and knew that as I chased after my higher calling, her smile is what got me here.