Mentoring - Sort Of

Is there a near synonym that implies a light form of mentoring?  Mentoring without really paying attention to it?  I am looking for that word.

About 35 years ago, a group of men decided to have a breakfast meeting in which each of these men would ask their individual mentors to come and speak.  I was asked.

I was not prepared to say anything, because I did not see myself as a mentor to the man who claimed me as his mentor.  So I told them basically, "I have nothing to say here."

More recently a guy started calling me one of his mentors.  Why?  All we did was eat together and talk a little, and I visited him in the hospital.  We still chat on the phone occasionally.

But now I see what it is: people are watching us.  People talk about kids watching and copying their parents.  It looks like adults do the same thing with someone they respect.  Oh, I guess these two guys felt loved, too.

You can be an example to others, right?  Well, you are doing it, even if you don't realize it.

Larry Carroll