by Christina E. Wray (Author)
A memoir often tells the story of a particular career, event, or time, such as touchstone moments and turning points in the author's life. "Welcome To Wyoming" tells the story of a nine-year-old girl who travels to Wyoming with her mother and sister. Her mother has taken a job as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Wapiti, Wyoming. Virginia, her mother, took a leave of absence from her teaching job in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She intended to complete one year of teaching and then return to Massachusetts. However, Virginia, a widow, meets and marries a local rancher. The nine-year-old girl, Tina, leaves her close-knit New England family behind and embarks on a new life on a Wyoming cattle ranch. The memoir follows Tina throughout her life experiences. The roads she travels are not always easy, and the people she meets are not always looking out for her best interests. Her story takes many twists and turns, but she perseveres. After many years of exile, first in Oregon and then in New Mexico, she is finally able to find her way back to the Wapiti valley, the place she calls home.