Harmless crush.... Right.

You'll get over it.... Whatever.

You haven't met the right girl yet....

Bullshit.

I knew Carrie was the one, despite my friends' attempts to convince me otherwise. The heated kiss we shared that night before I left for college sealed the deal. There was just one problem.

She wouldn't touch me with a 10-foot pole.

"I've known you since you were 12," was her first excuse.

"Your family wouldn't approve of this," was her second.

By the time I reached my 30s, when I was finished with all of her denials, her final excuse turned my world upside down.

"I'm not good enough for you," she had said, her words breaking my heart.

I'm done taking "No" for an answer. I'll prove her wrong, put her back together if I have to. What's the famous saying? Age is just a number, and hers has finally come up.