What will people think?......

In the early days:
       If you went to school with a hole in your sock; if you raised your hand and gave a wrong answer; if you were caught arguing with a sibling; if you EVER got a failing grade; if you forgot to go to Confession and didn't receive Communion that Sunday; if your library book was late.  There were horrors that awaited you, all in the public eye.  Not because you had an ego, but because judgment awaited, from all the people in your life.
   (When I was in third grade,  Miss Dorr, our teacher, had us address an envelope to ourselves so we could receive discounted passes to the Schaghticoke Fair.  We wrote the envelopes early in the school year, and received them near the end of the year, must have been before the geography   spelling lesson.  I went to the post office to get the mail the day the envelope arrived, and read the address:  my name in my loopy handwriting with  the address Valley Falls, New Yourk.  I was embarrassed, mortified, humiliated.  I was certain everybody in the post office and along whatever route the letter had taken would know how stupid I was, and would report my ignorance to my present and probably next year's teacher as well.  Everybody would know.)
       Later in life:
          If you didn't have anyone to eat lunch with; if you had a run in your stocking; if your hair was too long; if your skirt was too short (and I did wear mini-skirts); if you arrived home too late; if you forgot to get your car inspected; if  your house wasn't properly cleaned; if you were late sending thank-you cards for wedding gifts.  The world was waiting to comment on your  shortcomings.
       (There was a brief period in my life when I was between jobs, and didn't go to work.  I felt like the world was judging and keeping tabs on my shortcomings-no job, living at home, unmarried.  The eye of the public was focused on me.  Shameful, I felt like a pariah.)
     Present status:
        No more judgment, observations, concerns, or cares.  It doesn't matter what I do or fail to do, say or don't say, nobody left to impress, disappoint, or embarrass.  A life, at last, without expectations.
      (Unless there is a threat  to assassinate some high-profile individual, age carries with it the right to be left alone.)