In 1998, Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas approached her good friend, the Rev. Beth Hansen, with a concept for a book. Fondly remembering the model of Girl Scouts earning badges for learning new things, Lauren wanted to create an inspirational book of badges for women, celebrating their creativity, innovation, and élan. Rarely do any of us have an idea so strong that it can live its own life, but Lauren’s idea did. And, somewhere she is probably glad of that, as her life came to a tragic end a few years later as a passenger on Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001. This is the story of how You Can Do It! came to be commercially published this month.

RA: How do you make a dream come true?

BH: The first part of making any dream come true is daring to ask for a little help from your friends. When my friend Lauren [Cantuzzi Grandcolas] first came to me with her idea of a badge book for grown up girls, I must admit to a dizzying moment of memories.

Opening my Junior Girl Scout badge book for the first time was a breathless moment; I knew beneath this cover lay an entire world of adventure. Each badge was something I could do. In school you couldn’t be good in everything, it always seemed that one was either good in history or math, not everything. But Girl Scouts was for all girls, and I deduced that all badges were 100% proven to be something for everybody. Badges were something the world of women told me‚ “you too sister, you can do this now!” I had great faith in this world of Girl Scouts. I trusted these women and I dove in to the world of badges.

Great idea Lauren, but how many former Girl Scouts out there long for their badges? And what about those who weren’t in Girl Scouts—would they “get it?” Every dream can use a little marketing investigation and refining the deeper mission of the idea. My advice was to identify the ducks and get them in a row so a publisher could see that this idea was, in fact, their dream, too. Lauren approached me about her idea because she needed some concrete suggestions and guidance in getting to a publisher. At that time I was on pause from full-time parish ministry and working as a consultant in brand development. I would not consider myself an advisor for wanna-be authors, but I knew more than she did about the book world and she wasn’t afraid to ask for help in the first step.

RA: There’s a time when a dream must “go public.” What was that moment for You Can Do It?

BH: After a few years and several jump starts on her idea, she put together a book proposal and a mature idea to sell to an agent. On a sunny Sausalito morning at my dining room table, I introduced her to a book agent I knew, Caroline Herter, and there the idea transformed into reality. Caroline loved the idea and was interested in taking it on.

RA: What is the spiritual dimension of this book?

BH: Spiritually speaking, I am very glad this book will be here in time for Mother’s Day, the day when we honor God’s ultimate creative gift to us. The book is fundamentally about the creativity and daring that lies within every woman. God created so much for our pleasure; it is only meet and right to offer back our best creativity to God. I mourn how the daily drum of most of our lives squelches our inner Girl Scout. We get too filled with what we should do, rather than fanning the spark of joy in our hearts. You Can Do It! is the clarion call to seize the day, seize your life!

RA: Do the badges support the “inner Girl Scout” spirit?

BH: Absolutely! To do something new we often need a mentor, someone who can suggest to us the way to begin. Each badge is hosted by a real life mentor, a woman active and passionate about that discipline. She is the badge’s guide and someone to contact if your courage is flagging. All of the mentors freely gave their time to create a badge for other women. The book is divided into seven categories: Dare, Create, Learn, Play, Deal, Connect, and Dream, with a total of 60 badges. Yvette Bozzini, the writer who translated all the mentors’ badge work into one voice, did a terrific job naming the badges. Who could resist, “Speak Geek” on computer care, “Pop the Hood” on car repair, “Beat the Boys at Pool” on billiards, and “Dig This” on gardening?

RA: You are featured as the mentor for the badge “Get an Inner Life”, were they okay with you’re bringing a Christian point of view to a secular book?

BH: First, no matter what tradition you’re from, it is a bit odd to consider paying attention to the inner life as something that can be an accomplishment or badge. But if it takes a badge to get people to sit down and pray, well...everyone quickly finds out there’s a reason it’s called “inner life” not “inner visit.” On one hand trying contemplative prayer once may not merit a “badge,” but on the other hand, heaven rejoices when the lost coin is found. Your time with God is that lost treasure in heaven.

My hope with the “Inner Life” badge is that through it women will discover Centering Prayer. I do fundamentally believe that Centering Prayer is the best entrée to a life with God and one of the best things you can do for your inner life. Even though my experience is deeply rooted in the resurrected Christ, I know that God, so eager for our friendship, will meet us if we just set aside the time to be together and that is the heart of Centering Prayer.

The most difficult request of the editor was for me to offer computer sites which would be listed as “Beth’s picks.” I laughed and said, “Better to unplug your computer and go sit in silence.” They actually printed that in the book along with a few sites I reluctantly offered.

RA: How has being a part of this book influenced your faith?

BH: Being a part of You Can Do It! has touched deep chords in me. This was a woman I knew for 14 years—being single, getting married (I performed her wedding to Jack Grandcolas), and privy to many of the life struggles and joys thereafter. She was spontaneous, she was daring. She dreamed big, and she loved her girlfriends. It is a painful irony that traveling home from her grandmother’s funeral became the time for her own death. Perplexing that she was scheduled for a later flight, but somehow got to the airport early that day and got on Flightt 93 (Lauren was never early for anything!). As much as the media likes to play up the heroism of Flight 93, the facts of what happened are sketchy. The results were heroic and at a great cost.

I heard Lauren’s phone message from the plane. She was scared, she was hopeful, she clearly knew it might be the end. The passengers on Flight 93 did all they could. Heroism that day meant both you can do it and doing all you can. Doing all you can may be sharing a cell phone or storming the cockpit; it’s what you can. The daring to be creative has been a salient ingredient in my understanding of faith. So, like Lauren before 9/11, I heard the message of this book as telling women they can do, and that made it a creative spiritual endeavor. Now, I hear the message of this book as you, an invitation for each woman to fully rise to the occasion of their life. You, your soul, your spirit, is the larger factor in my faith now.

--The Rev. Beth Hansen is the Associate Rector at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, San Francisco.

Roulhac Austin is the editor of Cow Hollow Church News, the newsletter of the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

Beth will be featured at a promotion for You Can Do It! at Kepler’s Bookstore in Palo Alto, May 3rd.