Hard Habit to Break

I drove across town this morning to go to the sports chiro for a pre-race tune-up, and it was move-into-the-dorms day on campus. I can remember the feeling I had when my parents left me alone in my dorm room like it was yesterday -- though it was nearly 25 years ago now.

While flooded with memories of that uncomfortable alone-and-starting-a-new-phase feeling, I realized that things are kinda like that for me now, too, just as this classic from my youth came on the radio:

I guess I thought you'd be here forever
Another illusion I chose to create
You don't know what ya got until it's gone
And I found out a little too late

I remember, back in the day, singing this song as if I knew what it felt like to have someone and then lose them, even though I didn't. Not really.

Fast forward to now, having had and lost the real deal, I have this to say in response to the first verse:

1) I did think he'd be here forever. Felt it too.

2) Looking back on it all now, it seems it was another illusion I chose to create. What a delicious illusion it was, too, until it became impossible to maintain.

3) I knew what I had long before it was gone -- hell, I knew what I had before it had even really gotten started.

4) What I found out or when proved completely immaterial in the end.

But I'm not gonna take issue with the chorus, because I'm right there with them on that front:

Now being without you
Takes a lot of getting used to
Should learn to live with it
But I don't want to
Being without you
Is all a big mistake
Instead of getting easier
It's the hardest thing to take
I'm addicted to ya babe
You're a hard habit to break