How did I get Note Bene written?

I have always wanted to write, but the follow through has been difficult, with work and family taking the majority of time away. In my thirties I started multiple novels, but they have remained half done and filed away. They were often spearheaded by news, but work always took them away from me.
But then a break came along. In a summer during my mid-forties I had a week break between jobs and my wife told me to our family cottage on Shuswap Lake and to write. My parents were at the cottage for the summer and my father said he would set up space. When I arrived I found that an end of the dining room table had been converted into my space; a typewriter in place, a stack of paper, a pad with a pen and a coaster for my coffee.
Great I thought. But to be expected. My father had been a reporter and then became part of the editorial board for the Vancouver Sun and then in later years created his own Public Relations Company. He ‘ghosted’ a novel as well.
So Monday morning I went out to the deck and had coffee with my parents. Suddenly my father stood up and said, “It’s nine am. It’s time for you to start writing.” He ushered me to my seat. My mother provided breakfast and a second coffee a short time later. I wrote for a couple of hours and then got up and wandered out the deck, where my parents were.
“What’s up?” asked dad.
“I’ve done a couple of hours. Got some good stuff done. Pretty good for the day.”
“Not at all,” said my dad. “You don’t finish writing until 5 pm.”
What? I went back to the table and stared at blank paper in the typewriter for a moment or two, and then continued writing. At five pm my father came by the table and placed a glass of red wine in front of me and said it was time to stop.
For the remainder of the week I followed the same pattern and when I packed up to return to the coast I had written 70,000 words.
Back at the coast Nota Bene faded into obscurity. Too busy working and taking the kids to sports, mentally exhausted at other times, the novel and my work on it drifted in and out. I had become a travel consultant by that time, which allowed us to travel. In 2017 my wife and I had decided to travel to Italy and from there to Croatia. Then unexpectedly she demanded that we travel to Malta.
“Why,” I asked.
“So you can complete your novel.”
So we went to Malta. I took photos, made notes, worked on a number of scenes, but also enjoyed our time. Still, once I returned from Europe the completion of the novel stalled. And then three years later we had the Pandemic. As a travel consultant the Pandemic allowed me to look out the window and stare at blue skies, such a beautiful deep blue and no contrails. I began writing again and finished the novel, edited it perhaps a hundred times, had readers comment on it, re-edited again and in time found Authors House, who has published it.
My only regret? That it was published after my father had passed away. Thanks for the help dad. And thanks to my beautiful wife, Karen. You both pushed me to finish the novel. As if you were working in league together.