The road beckons, and our heart longs for adventure.  But the way is long, and who knows what might befall us along our journey?

How many times have we turned back, turned aside, or given up before we’ve given ourselves time to either succeed or fail?  How many opportunities have we missed, how many victories have we left unwon, how many heroic failures have we traded for cold comfort and abandoned hopes?

All beginnings are difficult, say the sages of the Talmud.  And when we concede the race before we start, all we have left is a scrapbook of empty dreams.