"I had an acorn fall from a tree in my driveway and dent my roof!"
"An acorn fell from a tree in my driveway and dented my roof!"
Why is this "I had" pattern becoming so common? Why does adding two words (and inserting yourself as a subject) seem preferable to using past tense in the normal way?
(I understand that language changes over time, so I'm actually curious as to what may be motivating this change).