the big mcdonalds in my head

 Decades ago I used to go to a semiannual trivia contest in Williamstown, Massachusetts. For those who are interested the official (or semi-official? I have no idea) page for the contest is here.

But this post isn't about that contest.

The drive up to Williams for the contest was a four to five hour road trip that took us through Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

On one particular trip, I was driving with a friend, Evan. We were getting peckish as we approached Pittsfield. I suggested that we stop at the McDonalds that was "a little bit ahead, on the right." Good idea, Evan agreed. But a little bit ahead there was no McDonalds. Just an empty field. Which seemed strange to me -- I knew there was a McDonalds there. I could picture it in my head. And I told Evan that.

Hungry and annoyed, Evan made some comment about it just being "a big McDonalds in your head." And I had to eat crow. Because as sure there was a McDonalds there, it seemed implausible to argue against the evidence. That evidence being that there was clearly no McDonalds there.

But I happened to be driving through Pittsfield yesterday. In that very place that, in its McDonaldslessness, had let me down decades ago, there is now a McDonalds.

I wasn't wrong; I was just ahead of my time.