11-year-old Isabella Pieri has found her hair stylist in a bus driver after her mother’s demise. Although, she has grown capable of taking care of herself, a bus driver has offered his helping hand to the teenage girl. Isabella’s father leaves for work early in the morning and is bringing up her child on his own. However, braiding his daughter’s hair has always been a baffling task for him. Thanks to the bus driver, who willingly offered to help.
"I originally just gave her a crew cut because I didn't know how, and it was all tangled and I couldn't get it out for anything," Philip Pieri told KSL-TV, a news station in Alpine, Utah, where the family currently resides.
When Isabella grew her hair long, she used to pull it back in a ponytail before heading to the school. One day, she noticed her bus driver, Tracy Dean, braiding another student’s hair into a style. She gathered courage and asked the driver to braid her hair as well.
Dean was more than happy to do so. And ever since then, he started braiding the little girl’s hair everyday.
"It makes me feel like she's a mom pretty much to me," Isabella told KSL. "And it makes me excited for the next day to see what she does."
Dean also fixes Isabella’s hair every morning before she gets off the bus.
"You can't be shy, you've got to talk to them," Dean told the station. "You treat them like your own kids, you know."
Dean, who had her own struggles, understood what Isabella must be going through.
"Seven years ago, I found out I had breast cancer, and that's one of the things that went through my head - who is going to take care of my little ones? Not that my husband couldn't do it, but you know, that's what moms do. They do their kids' hair," she told KSL.
Isabella grew a lot of self confidence ever since she started going to school with a hair style she’s proud of. Her father was also appreciative of the help.
"Tracy didn't have to step up, but she stepped up to help out," Pieri said. "I was amazed."
