The 185 joined our family in 1976 and since then has taken us to Alaska 3 times and Baja and Mainland MX so many times we've lost count, and all over the good old USA hundreds of times. It's very much a part of our family. We've been thru a lot together and she always smiles at me as I give her a kiss and put her away for the night. She's a sweetheart!
Ron

I bought my C170 in 1997 with zero tailwheel time and only about 350 hours total time, two years after getting my license. I sold her in 2009 after about 1700 hours & a lot of good times. It would have been a real heart-wrencher seeing it fly away-- IF it hadn't taken about 8 months to sell it after I bought my current airplane. I was just so glad tosfinally get it sold that the bittersweet thing just turned into relief.

Yep, flyin' around & having lots of experiences w/your plane can create a love affair, but it's a whole lot more meaningful relationship if you build/rebuild it!

I bought a ratty, timed out (read: cheap) SCub & flew it for the summer before I started the sweat equity part. It was interesting getting to know her intimately. Now she feels much more like MY airplane than just something I bought.
We're glad to see each other when I walk out on the dock.

If you end up doing your own modifications to the new plane (if it's the experimental you were looking at) then you're going to get a whole lot more attached to the new one!