Don't mar happy memory by trying to psychoanalyze it.(Life-Family)

Byline: DR. BRAZELTON

A while back we included a letter from a reader whose child had cartoon names for family members. The family whimsy prompted another similar memory.

Q: A fond recollection I have from around the age of 5 was of my mother coming down the street, returning from work, and my calling out to her, loudly but lovingly, "Mammy Yoakum, Mammy Yoakum," whom you might recall (age permitting) was the pipe-smoking mother to Al Capp's "Li'l Abner."

Cannot tell you how long that had gone on, nor how long it continued nor why. Someone smarter than I might use the word transference in a long sentence. All I know is that for several years she …