Looks like the falling out of the car episode deserves its own post, so here's the recap....
I believe mom was sick with Mono. We were living on Ashton and P was helping her with us rugrats. I believe P and I drove up to Stuckey's in the Dodge Dart to get something - I can't remember what. We were heading back home, and P was turning left off of Whitten onto Raleigh-LaGrange (they've since reworked this entire intersection, so it looks nothing like it did then; gone is the high, steep embankment and the trees) when the passenger door just flew open.
Fortunately, a) P wasn't going very fast (shocker, I know), and b) my foot got caught under the gigantic "factory A/C box" mounted under the dash. The only thing keeping the back of my head from smacking the pavement was my toes jammed up under that contraption.
When P noticed the door had flown open, she slammed on the brakes, which dislodged my foot from behind the box and dropped me - relatively gently - out on the side of the road. I think there was more danger in my rolling down the embankment or being run over by the Dart's back tire than of getting hurt falling out.
All I remember after that is me scrambling back into the car and P being freaked out, but it wasn't really her fault. The doors on that tank were so heavy; no kid could have possibly closed one completely without help from an adult.
Come to think of it, it was all her fault. P, I'm telling mom!