On this gorgeous, clear November-Thursday, here in New Concord, I stopped for coffee at Chapman’s Coffee House located a few blocks across the street from Muskingum University. I had driven here from my house, which was just a mile away. With the warm coffee in hand, I strolled across to the railroad track that went past the coffee house and stood by its side craving for a train to approach. The winsome orange, red, and yellow colors of the forestry-land across from me on the other side of the tracks made me smile.  

Seeing the tracks here in New Concord or hearing the freight train with its blaring horn has almost always taken me back to my childhood days in Peradeniya, a mid size town in the island of Sri Lanka, where I lived from ages seven to twelve. This time too, the tracks made me picture this town and retrieve memories of my time there. Peradeniya, a residential town, was surrounded by pretty little hills and had a railway station named Sarasavi Uyana, a renowned botanical garden, the Peradeniya University, the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture, and the wide Mahaweli River. I recollected how my family and I would hear the train travel during different times of the day and night past the Sarasavi Uyana Station and on a nearby bridge over the Mahaweli river. Now, if only there was a river in New Concord, I would feel closer to home, I said to myself. 

Wait a minute, I thought. Zanesville, just west of New Concord, has the Muskingum River and this same railroad track going by its side. I knew right away the large park where was the river was on side and the tracks on the other. 

Impulsively, I drove the twenty five minutes to the park in Zanesville. Upon arriving, I parked my car and walked around observing the attractive and quiet ambience of the large space around me. The fall colors of the trees by the tracks, the wide Muskingum river that had an innocuous feel to it, the green park, and clear blue skies was a charming sight. Again, I conjured up images of the rail road track and river back in Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. I recalled crossing the tracks on my way to the big rugby and cricket fields belonging to the university; laying bricks with my friends on the tracks surreptitiously at night, which we knew were unlawful to do; and walking through a narrow footpath that descended to the banks of the Mahaweli river from where I could see the bridge above. That area was so scenic and boundless, I remembered. 

All of a sudden, here in Zanesville, I heard the rumbling of a freight train. My face lit up! Ah, the icing on the cake, I said to myself, being grateful for what was impeccable timing. While the train passed me, I looked with fascination, as though I was seeing a train for the first time. The train gradually disappeared from my sight and I stood there breathing the fresh cool air. I was completely relaxed. Now, this place genuinely reminds me of my Peradeniya town, I thought to myself. 

As I was driving back to New Concord, a thought hit me: Could Zanesville become the home of my future? Currently, I was at a cross road having taken early retirement from Muskingum this past May. I was still teaching as an adjunct piano faculty, but it would yet be convenient for me to drive to from Zanesville to teach, if I were to move there. I knew I had been considering other places in the country to move to like Arizona, Oregon, or Massachusetts. Perhaps, find adjunct positions in these places. But regardless, I was looking to move anyway given I was living in a large and spacious house in New Concord, one that getting a little too much for my up-keeping. 

Zanesville, though, with old and quaint churches and a small array of restaurants, a revitalized downtown, art galleries, regular music performances, two two-year colleges, a small liberal population, a few attractive parks, and most importantly, low costs of living would be an attractive and viable place to live in, I realized. I could downsize and find a comfortable place that would still accommodate my 7’Steinway piano. Equally importantly, in Zanesville, I felt I could relive my pleasant childhood days and feel closer to Peradeniya on a quotidian basis because of the Muskingum River and railroad tracks. 

Amazingly, I realized, the place I was looking for could be just next door from New Concord, and not in some far away place like Arizona or Oregon, where I was dreaming of ending up. I finished my drive, came inside my house, and raised a glass of wine to celebrate the realization of this new possibility, thanks to my impulsive little drive.