In her room every morning by 7:30 and out the door as late as 6 each night, there was little time to pursue her own goals of taking art classes and voice lessons and seeing the world she taught her children about.

It wasn't until a scare with breast cancer five years ago that Linda started thinking about life beyond Room No. 201. Her students helped her through the fight, swamping her with cards and flowers and holding a daily contest to guess which colorful scarf she'd wear to school after her hair was lost to chemotherapy.

"They kept me positive — I'll miss seeing their faces every morning," says Linda. Now that her boxes are packed, she'll think of them often, "while I'm figuring out what else I was meant to be."

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