Aunty and uncle

i remember when i was young, whenever i met my mum's friend, i would call them "aunty" just to be polite...and the aunties would smile happily acknowledging it and say: "you are a good kid, very polite"...and at that time, i was proud of myself for being polite and good...and from then on, i called every single one of my mum's friends aunties uncles...as i got older, it becomes weird but the habit still maintained...just last week, i felt that may be it is time for me to stop calling aunties and uncles and start greeting my mum's friends with a smile and say "hello"

it was funny...last week, my mum invited her friends over for dinner....as usual, my mum cooked a lot...a feast for 30 guests...the guests started coming around dinner time and i went down to greet them, just to be polite...a lot of people came with kids...somehow after marriage, people do not dress up and make up anymore...naturally, they look like...hhmmm...hmmm...uncles and aunties....well, so this unfortunate lady who has 2 kids came to the front door...my mum introduced me and said "this is my daughter", pointing at me...then i smiled at her and called her aunty...thinking that she would be happy to be greeted so politely and i expected her to give me a smile and said "乖"...instead, immediately after i greeted her with "aunty", her expression changed, smile faded and she just looked at me...blankly...OMG OMG, i thought to myself...what did i say wrong?! only after my dinner that i realised, oh dear, the lady with 2 kids may well be younger than me or just a few years younger than me..her kids are still...so, so, so young...because i'm not married yet, i still feel like a kid...thus, everyone with kids feel older than me and i thought it is just appropriate to be called aunty...oh dear..what a BIG mistake....so after some reflection, i think it's just safer for me to greet ppl from now on with a simple "hello".....just to be save...afterall, im not that young anymore >_<