(six kids, all a year apart, father at sea for eight months at a time)
Kudos to your mom—it’s a wonder any of you survived to adulthood, or failing that, that she didn’t kill your dad! LOL
Sorry about your dad’s ring.
Now that we are grown, we have a huge amount of respect for our parents, especially my mom. We all wonder how someone does that.
My mom always did say she never had a problem taking us out in public anywhere and that we were well behaved.
Of course, I do remember her admonition when she left us all in the car to go into a store...”if I hear that horn, you are going to wish you didn’t have hands to touch it with!”
Now, she could have meant anything by that, but in the dark recesses of our brains, I suspect we all thought it meant we better be prepared to have a hook for a hand!