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We went to see Dennis he was fine, in fact he looked better than I had seen him look for ages. He had put on quite a lot of weight and looked really healthy. Prison seemed to suit him, I cant think why.

I spent a whole week in Belgium this time, as a new system had been installed and there was alot we needed to understand to process our requests to them for fabrications in the correct way. Once again we were in a five star hotel and the food there was excellent. Working very hard during the day but having an amazing time at night. We were taken to some amazing places to eat. Even the food on Sabena Airlines was amazing, I dont think it exists now.

My goodness its almost time for all my childrens birthdays again Sheila and Steve will be 19 yrs old and Lesley 22 yrs old it doesnt seem possible, where have all the years gone. Sheila said her and Erin were coming over and they would arrange something with Steve. Lesley would be celebrating hers with Ian, I would think.

Steve`s arthritis had gone completely now and he was a strapping 6ft 2 ins young man , he still religiously did the weight training. Sheila wasnt far off his height she was 5ft 10ins.and carried herself very well. Lesley was the shortest one at about 5ft 5ins. with straight blonde hair whereas Sheila`s was curly. I was so proud of them all. They were all good hard working kids with good hearts.

I couldnt quite believe it, our lives were jogging along quite smoothly. With Dennis being in prison we could relax. Everyone seemed to be happy in their work, it was really nice.

Sheila came home for the day and asked did I still miss Angel our Great Dane I said that I did but we still had Candy our little mongrel, although, she was getting on in years. She said how would I like another Great Dane and I said I didnt want another as I couldnt replace Angel. Her next question surprised me she said what would I do if she brought one home, would I turn it away , I laughed and said probably not. She said in that case she was going to buy one for me. I said no she couldnt they were so expensive, she said she had been saving up for it for some time. The tears just ran down my face and she joined me. I knew this was what I had hoped and prayed for that Sheila could forget the tough times we had been through in her early teens and get back the love and respect we had before it all went pear shaped. I know I handled things badly and had told her so. I was the adult she was the child but it had all got fuzzy at the edges.

I tried to dissuade her from buying the dog but once her mind was made up there was no stopping her. She made me promise to ring my contacts and to try and find one, we didnt want a puppy we wanted one about 12-18months old as we were all at work and puppies needed constant attention. I could get home at lunchtime, so it would be ok with an older dog.