Be Sweet, Say Your Prayers
For 25 years Kim's Dad always sealed every letter and package to Kim with the words he had said to her her whole life (read about Kim's story). Now it dons the back of her PINK truck and the license plate of her family car.
Did you know that a woman in Florida also has BSSYP as her license plate? Let us know if you're the first in your state to get the latest fashion plate!
BSSYP
When I was a freshman in college, a thrilling "first letter from home" was sitting in my campus mailbox awaiting my enthusiastic response. It was obvious that Mama had addressed it, but Daddy had scribbled BSSYP in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope.
For the life of me, I couldn't figure out its meaning. Out of curiosity and probably homesickness, I immediately called home. I remember part of our conversation as if it were yesterday:
"Daddy, what is BSSYP?"
"Sugar, it is what I've told you all your life. Be Sweet and Say Your Prayers."
For many years, Daddy never missed leaving his mark on each letter or package that my Mama carefully and lovingly addressed. BSSYP survived graduation from college, graduate school, marriage, and now our first baby!
My unique tribute to Mama and Daddy is a perpetual Virginia license tag with BSSYP on it. The look on my parents' faces when I drove home for the first time donning my "tribute tags" was priceless. God only knows how many people have inquired about its meaning over the years.
I've never tired of sharing this tribute about my special parents, Bo and Maxine Bowman. I taught school almost ten years and an old license plate always adorned my classroom. The students inquired about it without fail and were given a little extra credit when they sought out its meaning and told me the next day. They loved it.
Imagine my joy in giving my parents an autographed copy of Dennis Rainey's book The Tribute (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1994) in which a letter from me, about them, was published!
This BSSYP tribute has already been passed on to our daughter as a tribute from her special, special grandparents, my Mama and Daddy, and now to you...
Sweet Monday Sisters!
BSSYP,
Kim 