At the planning meeting where I first told the story of BARI, someone called it 'melodrama.' There was also a joke that I should stick to music rather than write.

They were right. The story was melodrama.

A woman who sacrifices herself for her family, illness, belated recollection and regret. An all too familiar story.

But familiar stories invite familiar responses.

Feeling sorry for her, offering comfort, and ultimately accepting her life as something she could not help.

That last part troubled me.

Is understanding her life the same as explaining it away with the words 'she had no choice'?

I wrote a melodramatic story.

But what interested me within that story was not how pitiful she was.

It was the conditions of her life, and the choices made within them.