Simple math

I’ve been getting away with it
Way too long
Thinking I have more time
Than the others
That what normally
Would be called a mistake
Could be overlooked
Even though I’ve made several
And I apparently failed to learn from them
Because I’ve never succeeded
It’s like I’m guessing
Are there even rules
For solving the problem?
And how come the others
Are able to come up with the solution?

Before
The equation didn’t matter to me
I may have felt like solving it as a child
Then
A handful of times as I was growing up
I was tempted to see if I could find the answer
But as I did the math
I was rejected time and again
And it just didn’t add up

I am older now
But the math evades me still
And I realize how badly
I want to know the answer
That others seem to so easily solve

When does
1 + 1 = 2?