Miss vs. Ma'am

I was walking down the hallway at the gym yesterday when a kid ran up behind me and said, "Ma'am, do you know how to get to the pool?" I was a little bit startled at first, but then I gave him directions.

I'm not sure when it happened exactly. One day I was miss and the next day I was ma'am. It will only get worse. Right now, older people still address me as "miss". I'm only "ma'am" to the younguns.

I'm still not used to it, though. I don't feel old enough to be ma'am, yet. But sometimes I think about how old my ma'am's were when I was a kid and I definitely fit the bill. I'm practically ancient in 8 year old years.

Again with the steady march of time. One more turn on the wheel of inevitability. Here I go again on my own.