"In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a bit of a drinking situation." I think this is well written because it gives you a better look of their life. Jeanette still looks at her dad through little girl eyes, thinking he's perfect and could never do anything wrong. Her mother knows the dad a lot better, as an adult and sees he's actually not a good person. I think that this isn't exactly beautiful but its very important to the book. I liked this line because I think it's something a lot of kids could relate to when their younger. At the beginning of the sentence she says "In my mind'',  so I think this means that eventually she'll realize that her dad is a drunk and has more than "a bit of a drinking situation.". Later in the book we find out that for Jeanette's birthday her dad asks her dad what she wants for her birthday and she says for him to stop drinking. Her father looks hurt and ashamed, so we can assume that there is some deeper pain in his heart and like many people, he hasn't learned how to handle it even as a grown man. It wasn't exactly crazy for Jeanette to feel like her dad was perfect... he was different. He was constantly making the family move but tricking them into believing that never having a real home, money, clean clothes or food was somehow fun and adventurous. So putting "In my mind" really has an impact on how you look at the sentence.