This is the inevitable fate of the sentimentalist. All his opinions change into their opposites at the first brush of reality.
Youth is like having a big plate of candy. Sentimentalists think they want to be in the pure, simple state they were in before they ate the candy. They don’t. They just want the fun of eating it all over again.
The sentimental person thinks things will last — the romantic person has a desperate confidence that they won’t.