Just Another Monday Morning...

I have no idea why I scheduled my every-six-month dental cleaning and check-up for a Monday morning just two days after Christmas. Who can remember what, if anything, they were thinking six months ago?

Then there was the snowstorm…

I fully expected to wake up and find at least a couple of feet of drifted snow packed against my garage doors like a frozen wave. Almost didn't bother setting the alarm, because I figured everything would be snowed in and shut down for the day.

But we all know how overrated the great day-after-Christmas snowstorm of '10 turned out to be.

Only thing scary about driving down slick and narrow Shimerville Road was the massive snowplow coming at me up the hill. And I stayed well behind a guy fishtailing down Broad Street with rear-wheel drive.

No problem parking right in front of Dr. John Schevets' office on Main Street, just below the Triangle.  Yes, that's right, it's the same dentist's office where an out-of-control driver once crashed onto the front porch.

With two cancellations earlier, dental hygienist Lynn Shurilla was ready for me as soon as I walked through the door at 9:15.

Lynn and I discussed the merits of Christmas music being piped through the office as she worked on my teeth. She was just about finished when I heard someone in the lobby say something about a Mercury with Patch signs had just been hit out front.

 Hit? Did they say hit? Please tell me I didn't just hear the word hit.

 Ah, the horror.

 An Allentown woman with two young men in her car came around the little bend where Chestnut meets Main and slid, smashing into the back of my poor Mariner Patchmobile. It was small consolation that her car looked much worse than mine.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. One of her sons told me they even applied the "e-brake" to try to stop. (In snow?)

 The woman was tearful and apologetic. Randy was in no mood to graciously accept an apology. She suggested police did not need to be called. But at my request, Sue Wenner in Schevets' office already had made that call.

 The police officer, who told me he starts his day by reading Emmaus Patch, quickly determined the other driver did not have a license.

 An eyewitness later told me her car came around that curve going at least 40 mph when she lost control and slammed into the back of my car, pushing it forward.

 Hours later, I was still waiting for a call back from a body shop so I could ask them if they would please fix my car (they never did call); from a car rental place I thought delivered vehicles to your door but apparently doesn't, and from the very nice police officer who promised to let me know when he found out if the woman has insurance to pay for my damages.

I also was bouncing by phone among the insurance company, tow truck company and my second-choice body shop --about whether I would have to pay a hefty out-of-pocket storage fee before my car could be moved.

Here's where I'd like to say: "Never have an accident". But what can you do when you're reclining in a dentist chair and your car is parked out front?

Any lessons learned?

 Only that perhaps I should not so quickly have scoffed at the great day-after-Christmas snowstorm of  '10 .

And this: on another Dec. 27, 21 years ago, a guy eager to get to the beer distributor that was at 10th and Pennsylvania Avenue ran a stop sign and crashed into my car.  Twenty-one years from now, maybe I'd better stay home on Dec. 27.

Heck, 21 years from now, I'll be lucky to still be on the planet!

Journalists --- often seek meaning where there may be none.