When someone older spends their time on you, that’s an investment. Show them a return.

An adult who spends real time on you is giving away something they cannot get back, usually for no return at all. Coaches, managers, teachers and neighbors do it quietly, and most of them never find out whether it worked. What they want back is not thanks, it is watching you do something with it. That is an easy debt to pay and an extremely easy one to leave unpaid.

Use what they gave you where they can see it, and tell them when it worked. Be on time for the person who made time for you. Pass the same thing down to somebody younger when the chance comes.