However, I must correct something in your post.
There's a big difference between prayer and worship. We do not worship Mary. We do pray to her, but in order to ask her to intercede on our behalf. It's not a worshipful prayer. It is, in my mind, like needing to ask a favor of someone who's in another part of the country. You can ask your friend who lives in that town to have a face-to-face conversation with the person from whom you need help.
That's the deal for me. Mary's there (in heaven), she's got big time street cred and she loves us. Why not ask her to help us out in our conversations with God?
I understand your explanation. I suppose that asking Mary to help you in some way assumes that she is able to? And how would she be able to help you unless she was divine in some way?
When you say you are asking her to "intercede" on your behalf, a Protestant feels the hairs on their back go up. That's because we believe "there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).
Plus, if Jesus is God, and if he loves us, wouldn't he be more than happy to listen to us, and answer our prayers? Needing another intercessor implies that Jesus isn't enough. Make sense?