The then-17-year-old wanted to create lasting memories with his baby brother before going off to college.
Noah Tingle was determined to make some lasting memories with his little brother before he went off to college and began the next phase of his life. So on the first day of the then-12-year-old Max Tingle's 2019 school year, the Louisiana teen ran outside to greet his baby brother as he came off the bus. The next day, according to CBS News, Noah — who was a 17-year-old high school senior at the time — switched things up with a Santa Claus outfit to welcome Max home. Understandably, the youngster was embarrassed by his big brother's wacky show of love and tried to run away and avoid Noah.
Undeterred, Noah persisted and made a tradition out of it, greeting Max in a different costume every day. "I decided to start putting the costumes on to get him off the bus to embarrass him, but at the same time, be able to make memories with my brother before I leave for college," he told TODAY Parents. "When he wanted to dress up and get Max off the bus, I just laughed and walked away," the boys' mother, Stacie Tingle, explained. "His older sister took the first video. Then, when he wanted to do it the next day, I helped out with the fun and started to video for him... This is typical Noah. He loves his brother, but also loves messing around with him."
"Noah pours into Max like he would want someone to do for him," said Stacie. "He wants Max to be the best he can be... I never would have thought they'd be this close, being five years apart, but their relationship is precious and (it) brings joy to my heart to know they have each other. I am so glad Noah puts forth so much effort to be there for his little brother. I pray they will always be close, best friends."
Noah's creative costume changes gained national attention after Stacie began filming the bus stop greetings and posting them on a now-viral Facebook page called The Bus Brother. "The first outfit was just kind of something silly, then I started coming up with more ideas," Noah told ABC News Baton Rouge affiliate WBRZ. "Then when my mom started posting them, people were donating different costumes and outfits." He admitted that he'd never expected his silly tradition to blow up online. "It's gotten a lot bigger than I thought it would," Noah said of the Facebook page.
"I thought I would keep it going, but I was expecting it to kind of be something that me, my friends, my family, and a few other people we know to kind of catch on," he added. "But for the amount of people that saw it and loved it, it was just crazy." Over time, Noah posted a range of hilarious costumes including a firefighter, a bear, an LSU football player, Santa, a sloth, "Where's Waldo," a Minion, a farmer, a gorilla, and more. Not even the pouring rain stopped him from greeting Max's bus in a Chewbacca costume, which both brothers said was one of their favorite costumes.
Meanwhile, little brother Max's embarrassment faded with time. Soon, he began stepping off the Central Community Schools bus with a big smile every time he spots his sibling waiting in the goofy garb. "At first I was surprised and kind of embarrassed, but now I'm just used to it," Max said.