The Diary Of Jack Simmons

01/01/1978         Dear Diary,

My name is Jack Simmons, and this is my first entry, ever! I’m not sure what to get out of writing in a diary but my mum gave it to me, and she said it was fun to do. Anyway, I have a few new years resolutions that I’m sure that I’ll deny making later in the year but one of my ‘real’ resolutions, is to make my parents buy me a ten-speed racing bike. Just like my next-door neighbor's. His name is Timmy and he let me ride it. I know that I live on a busy road but I’m going to be thirteen this year and I’ll promise them that I’ll only ride it on quiet streets. For God’s sake, I’m starting high school this year!

27/08/1978         Dear Diary,

The doctor said I should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow and that the bones in my leg should heel good. Needles to say that my bike won’t be repaired or replaced anytime soon. I wish that I didn’t ride so fast down that lane-way, but I was lucky that my friend Reese was riding with me that day. Mum is really mad at dad, who bought me the bike for my birthday without her knowing. She said that dad and I wont be riding anything anytime soon but I didn’t know that dad had a bike!

03/03/1979         Dear Diary,

There’s a girl in my class that I really like. Her name is Julie Thompson, and she has short blond hair, blue eyes and is really pretty. She smiled at me today and I think that I want to ask her out to the school dance but there’s a bully in my English class by the name of Gregory Peterson and I think that he likes her too. He and his two friends were bullying George Sultana, who is a friend of mine, because he doesn’t like him. I tried to stop him, but he pushed me over and the whole class laughed. I hurt my knee.

13/03/1979         Dear Diary,

I asked Julie Thompson to the dance, but she had no because she already said yes to Gregory. At least she said that she would have said yes to me if I had asked her first. I’m still going to go but I’m not going to ask anyone else. George Sultana had asked me to go to his home after school yesterday and he showed me all the cool gadgets that he’s working on! He has a Texas computer in his home, and has pulled apart and reassembled a TV! His parents like me because George told them that I had tried to help him a few weeks ago. They gave me ice-cream!

20/03/1979         Dear Diary,

I went to the dance last night. George said he was going too, and we just hung out then watched people dance and listened to the music. I went outside to get some fresh air and heard someone that sounded like Julie, tell someone else to stop whatever they were doing. I went to have a look and found Gregory holding Julie against the wall, with his two friends watching. I got really mad and walked up and punched Gregory in the face! I’ve never punched anyone or anything before and it hurt my hand. I told him to ‘Leave her alone’ then when he turned to me, he had blood coming from his nose and he looked scared. Then he and his stupid friends ran away. Julie and I went back inside and danced to ‘My Sharona’ then drank lemonade.

23/03/1979         Dear Diary,

Julie and I started talking about music that we like, and we both liked Kiss. I asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend and she said yes! We’re going to watch ‘Startrek’ the motion picture on Saturday. I’m buying the tickets, but she said that she wants to by the fairy floss and Coca Cola.

21/08/1984         Dear Diary,

I got a car for my birthday! It’s a light blue 1973 Ford Escort and I was so happy to drive it to school today but while it took me six minutes to walk to school, it took me forty-five minutes to drive there. After I picked up Julie then made a stop to pick up my brother’s friend, then dropped off my brother, sister and his friend at their schools, before finally driving to mine. We were going to the drive-in on Saturday night to watch ‘The Karate Kid’. I like Julie a lot.

24/08/1984         Dear Diary,

Julie and I got into a big fight at the drive-in when I tried to take it to the next level. She said that she wasn’t ready, and I said some stupid things so she’s really mad at me now and has broken up with me. I’m such an idiot!

29/09/1984         Dear Diary,

Julie and I are still broken up, even though I tried to make up with her. I had told my friends what happened, but it somehow went around the school and Julie found out about it. What actually happened in the drive-in got twisted and she’s really embarrassed, and she said that she’ll never speak to me again.

28/10/1984         Dear Diary,

I think I did really well with all my exams for the Higher School Certificate. I’m hoping to get a good enough HSC result to allow me to go to Uni and get a degree in Architecture. I love the idea of designing fun houses and dream of building my own one day. Julie still won’t speak to me and worse than that, one of her biology classmates has asked her out. I hate it and I hate him!

01/11/1984         Dear Diary,

School has finished and my friends and I promised to keep in touch. My friend George and I are really close, and he’s helped me with feeling better about Julie. I now hope I did well in the HSC and think about the future. Julie still wont speak to me.

08/01/1985         Dear Diary,

I achieved an HSC score of 411 and matriculated to Sydney Uni! I start in February. George went fantastic and received the third highest score in the state and is also going to Sydney Uni as well but for computer programming. He’s so smart. I tried to call Julie to see how she did, but she has apparently moved, and I couldn’t find her new number. I’ll miss her.

08/07/1991         Dear Diary,

I almost forgot I had a diary! I found it when I was packing all my stuff to move to my new apartment, in Glebe which is right near Sydney! I start my new job as an Architect with Intech Design, on Monday. It’s located in the Sydney so I could either take a bus or walk to work. I caught up with George last night for a few drinks and he’s doing so well. He’s working for a software company and making a fortune. George also helped me with my breakup with my now ex-girlfriend, who I had been with for about a year. It was a mutual thing as we didn’t want the same things. Oh well. Onward and upwards.

13/04/1993         Dear Diary,

I had once again found you while I was packing to move into my new home. I had purchased an old warehouse in Leichhardt, in Sydney’s Inner West a year ago and had rezoned it then redesigned the interior into four stylish apartments. One of which I’m moving into. I had retained the old charm and features of the original design and added additional industrial but cool features like ornate concrete floors, stainless steel industrial style kitchens and exposed air-conditioning ducting. I had built in a large central light-well which provided a solution for lighting and ventilation for all four units. The project was successful both financially and career wise, as when I showed the finished product to my boss, he gave me a promotion. I get to design cool residential spaces now but I’ve been a little lonely lately.

19/06/1994         Dear Diary,

It took me a while to find you, as I had placed you somewhere for safe keeping. I wanted to have a look at all of my entries, as I’m going to a ten-year class reunion and wanted to remember some of my friend’s names. There was one name that I didn’t forget and that’s Julie Thompson. I’m sure that she’s married and with kids, as a great girl like her wouldn’t be on the market for long, but I wonder if she had ever forgiven me. I’ll let you know how it went. Wish me luck!

25/06/1994         Dear Diary,

The year of 1984 class reunion was amazing! Most of us are doing really well but a few people couldn’t make it. George picked me up in his Ferrari and we ‘stagged’ it, as he didn’t currently have a girlfriend either. The party was held in the ballroom of a large hotel and some of our interstate guests were able to stay there for a few nights. It was black tie and it looked like only half of the guys knew that that meant but me and George were in tuxes.

We started mingling and catching up with people, but I didn’t see Julie. It’s funny but the looks that we got from the girls made us feel good. Especially, George, who used to be chubby and wore thick glasses and now worked out and wore contact lenses. In fact, he was bailed up in the corner and speaking to three girls, who found out that he drove up in a Ferrari.

I had walked up to the bar and ordered a vodka martini and was joined by a drop-dead gorgeous woman in a purple cocktail dress, with a blond bob cut and exquisite makeup. She got my attention when she said,

‘Martini… That’s a grown-up drink. Have you grown up?’

I turned around and found Julie standing there. She was literally stunning, and I couldn’t respond, until she laughed a little.

We caught up, talked for hours and discussed where we were in our lives. Julie had become a lawyer and had moved to Adelaide. She was married up until a bout a year ago but hadn’t had kids. She explained to me that the reason was that her husband was jealous of her success and decided to cheat on her with her assistant.

“How is that even possible! You were always smart and pretty but now you’re gorgeous and sophisticated. Some men are so stupid!”

I said with amazement to which, Julie responded,

“And some boys!”

But she said it with a smile. I decided to be honest with her and said,

“You know Julie… We were only boyfriend and girlfriend for a few years before I screwed it up, but I’ve never forgotten about you. The remorse I felt… No, the remorse I feel has really shaped my past relationships and I am so sorry about how I had treated you.”

“Well, you are forgiven!”

We turned around and saw that we were the last ones left. It was now 2:00 AM and the servers were just standing around and waiting for us to go. I started to panic because I didn’t want her to leave or for this night to end but before I said a word, Julie said,

“Would you like to come up to my room for a drink?”

I almost tripped over my tongue trying to say yes fast enough. We stayed up all night just talking, and it was only when we saw the sun rise that we decided to call it a night… so to speak. We made plans to meet later in the day, but her flight was scheduled to leave in the evening. She never made it. 😊

12/05/1996         Dear Diary,

Today is Julie’s and my wedding and I feel so blessed to be marrying her. The last few years had been amazing, ever since she decided not to return to Adelaide. Well, she did eventually return to retrieve her stuff and get her affairs in order, before moving back to Sydney. We’re spending our honeymoon traveling around Europe and can’t wait to begin our lives together… Officially, that is.

13/04/2008         Dear Diary,

Welcome to the cyber age! I scanned and uploaded by diary into an online diary app and will now be typing in my daily notes, going forward. Julie and I are expecting our first child, but we don’t know if it’s a boy or girl, yet. Wish us luck.

16/07/2018         Dear Diary,

Today is my daughter’s tenth birthday and we have bought her an iPad among other things. Not long ago, I told her how I kept a diary and how much fun it was to journal. I even read to her some of the original entries, so her new iPad has a diary app installed. Hope she has a great day and has fun. Her mother and I love her and her baby brother so much. I can’t believe I wasn’t much older than her when I first met her mother. It’s been forty years since I started journaling and hope to speak to you for forty more.

17/07/2018         Dear Diary,

My name is Melissa Simmons and yesterday was my tenth birthday. I had so much fun with my friends and we had a pizza party! My mum and dad gave me an iPad with a diary app and a new bike. He told me how much fun it was writing in you, and I want to do it too. Speak to you tomorrow! Melissa.