Have you ever wondered what a passport stamp looks like? This is the start of my personal thoughts and ramblings...

I have had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people throughout my life. Anyhow, I was writing a new song today and thought about how I haven't shared any of my adventures with you, so this is my first step in trying to do so. I guess in order to take that first step, I should tell you a little bit about me…

I was born and raised in Vienna, Ohio (of course I'm not going to tell you the year…it’s a female thing) and I have the most wonderful family on Earth. You could probably say that I'm a little partial and you would be right! I have one sibling, an older brother. His name is Michael Burns...or, as I like to call him…”goober”, “my brudder” or “Mikey”. Did I mention that he is my OLDER brother?? (Sorry, Mikey…I just couldn't help myself. Remember when you used to razz me because I was the baby?? I guess all I can say is nah, nah, nah, nah, naaaaaah, naaaaaah.) My brother and I have always been extremely close (well, except during the junior high years) and have become even closer as we have gotten older, even though he is STILL older than me. (Oops, there I go again… ) He is still my true confidant. He put up with me singing at the top of my lungs when I was 2 or 3, put up with me singing all the wrong words to songs on the radio when I was about 4 or 5, helped me learn how to take on bully's when I was just a little older than that, put up with me dating all of his friends when we were in high school (he had some really cute friends) and is probably one of the best sound men I have ever used overseas. (For those of you who were in Bosnia when we toured there in 2000, you will remember him.) Anyhow, he is now married and has a wonderful (and I repeat wonderful) family of his own. I am the very (extremely) proud Aunt of Timothy and Zachary Burns and have a little niece on the way (she should be here in June)…

Both of my parents are still married and are the true reason that I am who I am. They sometimes even act like newlyweds after 38 years of marriage (April 14th was their anniversary). Their names are Rick and Shirley Burns and they still live in Vienna, Ohio (which is my home-town).

My dad (who I still call “Daddy”) is a Guru at anything he does. He is an extremely proud man and is (I can say with confidence) the one that I pretty much size up all men to. He is my biggest fan and is the one that I get my blood type, low blood pressure, left-handedness, musical talent and personality from. To elaborate on the “Guru” part… My brother and I used to joke (and still do) that we could put my dad in the garage with a roll of duct tape, some spare metal parts and a welder and then the next day we would find a backhoe or something just as genius. The reason for this story is based on true memories from my childhood where dad actually DID create a pretty cool hydraulic run device with a backhoe kind of bucket (that he named Gizmo) from a floor-waxer part (or something like that) and maybe some Elmer’s glue?? My brother I swear to this day (with childhood confidence) that he did so in about a day…okay, maybe a day and a half. :) My father (and mother, too) firmly believes in equal rights between men and women. He taught me (and my brother) how to work on cars. He also taught me how to put up a wall in my room, wire my own personal phone jack to the new wall in my room, (which he later cutoff during my teenage years) build a tractor, build a moped, build a Gazebo, shingle the roof of our house, shingle the roof of our garage, wire electricity, cure world hunger (…okay, that was just to make sure I wasn't losing you) and many other things which would probably take me a lot more time than I currently have to type into words. Suffice it to say that my Dad (or should I say Daddy) is still and will always be my hero!

My mom (who I still call Momma) is my best friend. She taught me (and my brother) how to program computers, cook from scratch (without a recipe), mend clothes, sew buttons, cure world hunger (…just making sure that you're still paying attention) and again a lot of other things which I also probably do not have time to type into words. She keeps me grounded when I tend to get a little frazzled and is the kind of mom that most people would love to have. (Again, I am very partial to my family, in case you haven't noticed.) There were more times than I can count growing up that I remember my friends telling me that they wished that my mom was their mom. To give you a little more insight regarding my mom, here are a couple of things you should know: My mom knew before my brother and I were even born that she was going to have 2 children, a boy and a girl. My mom believes in Angels (as do I), she loves my dad and her family with all of her heart (and heaven help the person who tries mess with any of them. Okay, wait a minute, that pretty much is standard for my Dad and brother, too.) and she (along with my dad) raised me with such confidence that I have always felt that there is nothing in this world that I cannot do if I put my mind to it. My mom is also the reason that I have started typing this page to you. She has every newspaper article about me that was ever written, every picture of me that was ever taken, all of my emails and letters and probably a ton of other things from every tour, every show, every club, every casino and every other place that I have ever performed. She is the reason that I will be adding a page called “Letters to Mom” soon… Anyhow, my mom is a beautiful woman (inside and out) and I am so thankful each and every day for her (and again, also just as much for my brother and father). I am taking her to Italy this summer so that we can have some much needed mother/daughter time. We are going to start out in Rome and go from there.

Okay…well, I think its probably about time that I get back to the song I was working on. Thank goodness I learned how to type fast. (I can thank my 9th grade typing teacher at Mathews High School in Vienna, Ohio for that...)

Be sure to check out some of the passport stamps I have scanned for you. It's just for fun. My first show overseas show was in 1999. At that time I didn't even know what a passport stamp looked like. Since then I have traveled to more than 40 countries (I used to count them but my family would probably know for sure) and I thought you might like to see what some of them look like. These stamps are from an expired (and I repeat, expired) government passport, so I don't think Uncle Sam would mind me showing you now. (The expired passport is thanks to my old friend John Field who I miss very, very much...)

More ramblings to come...