Mercer Island moms came together to write “Three Wise Moms: Our Lessons, Your Life.” The book is a culmination of inspiration, learning and wisdom to serve as a guide to others. The book contains 59 topics ranging everything from love to trust to friendship to faith; all from a total of 14 moms.

The concept of the book originated from three women: Aisha Jarman, Connie Shepherd and Natalie Thomson and each one has a daughter who is a graduating senior at Mercer Island High School.

They said the book is about imparting their daughters with wisdom and knowledge as they prepare for college and adult life.

“If we can pass on a little bit of wisdom or some of our lessons to our daughters to make their life a little better, a little easier, then we wanted to do that,” Shepherd said.

Jarman, Shepherd and Thomson met through their daughters a few years ago and found friendship despite their differences.

“Despite our very diverse backgrounds, education, religion and location, we all wanted the same things for our daughters—who were also very different but, in essence and in value, are the same,” Shepherd said.

They were then inspired to invite other moms to contribute to the project.

“[We thought,] ‘Let’s invite other moms and let it organically take off to as many entries as the moms will submit.’ It ended up being 59 entries,” Thomson said.

Shepherd said that the book isn’t just a book, but more of an interactive journal. At the end of every topic, there is a space where the reader can write their thoughts. Each entry follows a similar outline of an inspirational message, a personal story, another inspirational message, and then additional references or resources.

“The book is very value-focused. Each one of us was trying to tell our daughters ‘As you move on, these are the values and principles that we would like you to live by,’” Jarman said.

In one entry, Jarman wrote on the topic of acceptance.

“When we accept the differences of others without judgment, we can live freely and in peace with ourselves and with one another. My dream is to have acceptance be the norm instead of tolerance. That would be a sign of a strength in who we are, in our beliefs, and an acknowledgment that we all reach God in a personal way,” she wrote.

In another entry, Thomson wrote on the topic of adding value.

“Seek to add value in as many circumtances as possible. Add value to your relationships by being a good listener…Add value to your school community by taking on leadership or support positions as you can. Add value to your home by caring for your family and participating in the daily activites that keep a houehold running,” she wrote. “I’d like you to envision a world where all or most people are adding value…If you seek to add value for others, you will ultimately add value to your own life.”

Although they never intended the book to be widely distributed, the more other people became involved, the more they realized that the values weren’t just for their daughters but for others as well.

“These values are universal,” Jarman said.

Some of the biggest challenges they faced in completing the project were selecting the other contributing mothers, organizing the entries and naming the book.

“One of the things that we struggled with was using the world, ‘wisdom,’ in the book because [we all come from community-driven backgrounds] where you don’t really talk about yourself as wise but we’re trying to convey is that wisdom is gained through experience,” Jarman said.

The book is available on Amazon for $9.99. Shepherd, Thomson and Jarman will be speaking about the book at the Local Author Festival from 2-4 p.m. May 20 at Island Books.

“The book was really just an outpouring of our heart and soul,” Shepherd said.