In many families, moms are the backbone, the glue that keeps everything together. They plan for, shop and fix meals, wash the laundry, do the dishes, clean the house, tote the kids to their activities and make sure everything runs smoothly.
And there are just some things that moms seem to have a knack for, like getting stubborn stains out of clothes, finding a lost sock, putting hair up in a ballet bun or creating intricate braids. Utah mom Patricia Pieri doted upon her daughter Isabella and loved styling her little girl’s hair in particular.
But one day, Patricia passed away from a rare brain illness she’d battled since Isabella was three, leaving nine-year-old Isabella without a mom and with a broken heart. Her dad Philip, 47, did the best he could afterward to help his little girl with her hair, but realized it just wasn’t the same.
“She’d get mad at me for pulling her hair. I didn’t know how to do it. One day [Isabella] came home and it looked beautiful. I call her my princess and she looks the part, she plays the part and her confidence is way up, which is what I’ve been intending.”
So who on earth was suddenly fixing Isabella’s hair?
It was none other than her bus driver, 47-year-old Tracy Dean. Two years had passed since Isabella’s mom had died and Tracy had watched the little girl try and fix her own hair.
She saw her board the bus one day with a much shorter haircut because Philip didn’t know what else to do. It usually isn’t an easy task for girls to comb and style their own hair at a young age, but Isabella was doing the best she could.
Tracy has four kids herself, one close to Isabella’s age. She knew that at this age, girls allow their appearance to impact their self-esteem.
So Tracy started holding Isabella back after the other kids hopped off the bus just so she could quickly brush and style Isabella’s hair.
“I could tell she was struggling with her hair. We usually do two French braids first and once in a while she just wants one braid. I also taught her how to brush her hair. She’d get on the bus and she’d say, ‘I brushed my hair. Does it look good? I’ll say, ‘You did awesome.'”
Isabella’s dad was so grateful for this compassionate gesture shown to his daughter.
“She’s such a nice woman.”
Tracey doesn’t mind that her workday is delayed just a bit in order to help Isabella with her hair.
She also has battled cancer and thought to herself, “What if it were my child?”
“It’s just the way my mom raised me, to be nice to everyone—people who need a little love in their life. I like to give all of the kids a chance—even the naughty kids.”
Watch in the video below and see how appreciative Isabella is of Tracy’s kindness and hair-styling skills, and how sweet this bond is between the two of them.
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