"Compassion and gentleness and gratitude." It's a simple sentence, a pledge, really. This is what a mother is - or at least what a mother should be. Mothers are simple people who are willing "to walk this path with you." What path? The path of life. And it's not always an easy path to walk.

In Mothering Through the Whirlwind, Tamara Passey speaks from personal experience in this touching little memoir. Named Arizona Young Mother of the Year in 2013, she is humble in acknowledging her public recognition. When her six-month-old son needed a liver transplant, she walked with him, day after day, and sat by his hospital bed night after night. When, years later, her now adult son needed more medical attention, she continued to walk with him and sit with him.

After years of medical emergencies and family tragedies, including her brother being murdered, Tamara had built up a feeling of resentment as she had let the whirlwinds of life take over. Tamara had to reassess herself and her place in this whirlwind life and release the resentments that clouded her faith and her ability to follow the path, "to walk this path with you." Life will follow its own path; only faith will see you through it. Seems simple enough and it is.

Tamara has written a mother's compassionate memoir. Her story is very inspirational and will help us all through the trials of life. For this Arizona Young Mother of the Year, who at the award ceremony had only three minutes to speak publicly, she really has a lot to say and a lot to share. Most important is her message, which she keeps tacked on a board to remind her: "Don't let the whirlwinds drag you down."

Tamara Passey’s book, Mothering Through the Whirlwind, is filled with advice from a “Young Mother of the Year.” Yet this is not your typical self-help book. Passey shares her life experiences and offers her words of wisdom. Not once does she actually give advice. If the reader chooses to live by her example, then it is not because Passey told them to do so.

Normally I do not like books filled with advice. Too often it is as if the author is telling you what to do, and saying that what you actually do is wrong. Passey’s book, Mothering Through the Whirlwind, is different. Instead of telling you how to live life, she is offering her perspective on things. She also explains how she came to have that view on life. Some people may think the winner of the “Young Mother of the Year” award would and should be perfect. Passey shows that she is human in her book. She has lost a loved one in a brutal way, had a child with a serious health condition, and battled her own health problems. Still, she has the courage and strength to smile, live her life, and raise her children. I respect her enormously for this and wish I could be more like her.

I wish there were more books out there like Mothering Through the Whirlwind. I can definitely see why Passey won and deserves the “Young Mother of the Year” award. Passey has found the perfect way to write a book of advice; simply by sharing her life.