Each morning, a Utah school bus driver becomes a hairdresser for some of her riders.
That includes 11-year-old Isabella Pieri who's been doing her own hair for a while after her mother passed away and her father's efforts fell short.
“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 Pier told told KSL-TV reported.
But Isabella wasn't a fan, so she took matters into her own hands. She started out by giving her hair a quick brush, a ponytail when she felt especially adventurous.
That’s when Isabella’s bus driver, Tracy Dean, took over her hairdressing duties.
“You can’t be shy, you’ve got to talk to them. You treat them like your own kids, you know,” Dean told KSL-TV.
Isabella worked up the courage to ask for Dean’s help when she noticed the driver helping another student with her braids, and it’s since turned into a daily ritual for many of the girls.
Dean’s gesture was prompted by her own experience and realization that life is fragile.
"Seven years ago, I found out I had breast cancer, and that’s one of the things that went though my head — who is going to take care of my little ones?" she told KSL-TV. "Not that my husband couldn’t do it, but you know, that’s what moms do. They do their kids’ hair."
It was just the ticket for Isabella.
“It makes me feel like she’s a mom pretty much to me,” Isabella told KSL-TV. “And it makes me excited for the next day to see what she does.”
Isabella’s father was "amazed" and grateful for the bus driver's hairdressing help, and even Isabella's teacher told the news station the girl's "head was a little higher that morning."
Dean’s act of kindness didn’t go unnoticed on social media.
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