The AIDS interpretation makes perfect sense. But like many of Dream Theater's songs, it works on many levels.
A theory:
Perhaps the tie in with "Wait for Sleep?" has to do with a breakup between the woman and her lover (I would assume a boyfriend.) Perhaps one of them realizes they have AIDs and feel the need to break things off. Perhaps the woman in Wait for Sleep finds out that the man has AIDs, and overcome by fear, and breaks things off. Perhaps the woman is ALSO the subject of Learning to Live (unlike Wait for Sleep, LTL is gender-neutral.) Or maybe they have nothing to do with each other. Beats the heck out of me, but speculating on song meanings makes traffic so much more bearable.
The AIDS interpretation makes perfect sense. But like many of Dream Theater's songs, it works on many levels. A theory: Perhaps the tie in with "Wait for Sleep?" has to do with a breakup between the woman and her lover (I would assume a boyfriend.) Perhaps one of them realizes they have AIDs and feel the need to break things off. Perhaps the woman in Wait for Sleep finds out that the man has AIDs, and overcome by fear, and breaks things off. Perhaps the woman is ALSO the subject of Learning to Live (unlike Wait for Sleep, LTL is gender-neutral.) Or maybe they have nothing to do with each other. Beats the heck out of me, but speculating on song meanings makes traffic so much more bearable.