“I grew up in California. My dad was a barefoot hippie, so we moved around a lot and he gave us a lot to live through. I moved to Michigan, then came work, a marriage, and a family. I met Mike, and he just opened up my world biggly, in so many ways. Walking in my purpose has always been important for me and something I apply to my everyday life, and he’s given me the room to be me, to have, to create, to accumulate, and be myself. To have an offering to give.
The ice cream truck came first. As a little girl, my dad had a friend who had an ice cream truck and when he came over to hang out, he would give us kids some treats. He knew when there wasn't much money available, so he would be kind and take care of us. So, that ice cream truck was always my heart.
One day, I was driving by this building that had been empty for years and someone was looking at it. It was up for sale. I ran home and told Mike, somebody’s buying that building! We were in the middle of packing up for a family trip to California, and all of a sudden, Mike is talking to the realtor…even though we didn’t have any money! We drove across the country and that realtor just followed us all the way through America, keeping up on us, making appointments for us over there. We signed the papers in Camarillo, just outside my family home.
At first, we went to the city to ask for money and turn it into a Mexican restaurant. I would cook and it would be a family style. We didn't get money from the city, but it was a blessing in disguise. Because I had already been selling candy off of the ice cream truck, the idea became to open a candy store.
The idea grew. At first, it was just the first area up front. I actually took the furniture out of my house to put the candy on so it wouldn’t be on the floor. Then we just kept growing. The second room was used as a birthday party room with a magical flying carpet birthday table for 16 years. I created a complete whole offering with a magical flying carpet birthday table.
It wasn't quite bringing in the balance that we needed, so we turned it into this amazing candy village and it's the best. It has been everything that the store needed to be! There’s candy everywhere, with all these nooks, cubbies, drawers, and doorways to explore. What child doesn’t want to open and close, dig and discover? Other places, they’re told ‘Don’t do that!’, but here, they get to! We want them to!
But this place isn’t just for children. I've had grown men and women cry in here and apologize for it, because it just takes you back to important memories. When you see that Necco Wafer, and remember how your grandpa used to bring you one every time he came for a visit, and now he's gone now, you want to buy it because of your memories of your grandpa.
Those are just things that pull on our hearts. It doesn't matter how old we are, we are all kids."
“Tummy Ache Candy Store goes back to my spiritual path, my abilities to create, my heart to give, and my passion and desire to work for all of humanity. It’s for my Creator; and to bring equality, love, laughter, joy and friendship to all. Having this building has allowed me to continue to express myself as I need to. It’s my freedom and I take it. I have a short life now; it was longer, but it's getting shorter, so I will express myself until my last day. I understand my purpose.
When I was a little girl, I was kind of like a pebble in a rock, and by that I mean I didn’t have a chance to grow into what I needed to be. There wasn't any room to know that there was shining light in me. But I grew into that light and grew into my name. Now I know I live loudly and know that I have something to give. Love, joy and acceptance is so needed. This is a therapeutic place. It’s about the feeling and the memories of the music and the songs that we all know. It’s about a Grandma dancing in the room while kids are filling their buckets with candy and Grandpa telling his stories of when he was a kid. When I see that kind of joy, I know I am doing something right.
This place feeds me every day. The abundance is there to prove it. If I’m not joyous for some reason one day, I surely can find joy in here.”
– Starr Henning, Tummy Ache Candy Store, located at 1116 N Johnson St. in Bay City, Michigan
