55 years of Corbin!
Fall 1993.
21 years old, fall of my junior year in college, I climbed into bed with my walkman tape player and headphones. I hit play on Tommy Nelson’s popular Bible study on the Song of Solomon. Laying in the dark, I listened to Tommy’s story about standing at the open casket of a friend, a respected man in his church. Tommy stood next to the man’s wife, listening to her greet family and friends as they came to pay their last respects. At one point the woman looked at her husband, looked up at Tommy, and quietly said, “He was so kind.”
In that moment, my sleepy eyes opened wide. I probably did not actually sit up in bed, but the thought jolted me awake:
“Corbin Wilson is so kind.”
Corbin Wilson. My running buddy, my law school loyal friend… Corbin had graduated and stayed at Baylor for law school, but still lived right around the corner. He was removed from the fray of my undergrad life, but was more than willing to hang out with me and my roommates, to be reminded of the goodness of Baylor in the midst of the grueling law school culture.
Fall 1991.
Corbin was one of the very first people I met when I arrived as a starry-eyed Baylor freshman. A junior, he was what we then called a “MinCon” leader during Welcome Week. By day two of Welcome Week, my new and instant bff Molly insisted that we change groups to join Corbin’s. Ummm can we even do that??! I mean, we’re registered to this specific group… but fearless Molly and I casually meandered into Corbin’s group, which was now about quadruple the size of other Welcome Week groups.
One night towards the end of Welcome Week we went country dancing in West. Molly and I somehow scored a ride with Corbin in his black BMW. I felt like a fish out of water in many ways among the Baylor freshman girls, but THIS was my lane. I was surprised and a bit confused when Corbin continuously circled the dance floor, hovering among us and asking if we were ok. I had no idea why he would be concerned about all of us 18-year-olds, in a bar, dancing with guys we didn’t know. Wearing his Cole Haan loafers and starched button-down, Corbin circled us throughout the night, checking on his massive group of freshman.
Spring 1992.
At the end of my freshman year, Corbin’s junior year, we ended up sitting at the end of a dinner table together during a Fiji Islander date party. With different dates. But we somehow connected over a desire to start running with our mutual friend Amy. The next week, Corbin, Amy and I ran a few miles around the Bear Trail. A few nights later, Amy stayed home to watch a new show, “Friends.” Corbin and I went ahead without her. And that started a couple of years of regular jogging, grabbing dinner or studying together. And some months into our friendship, way before we ever considered dating, I was jolted awake hearing Tommy Nelson teach about looking for a man who is kind. Not a bro, not a man’s man, but kind. Corbin (or the Lord?!!) had gotten my attention. But it would be a couple more years of tracking miles around that Bear Trail and spending time together before Corbin and I realized we’d actually fallen in love.
Today. Oct 27, 2025.
Corbin, on your 55th birthday, I am reminded that so much of who I am today is shaped by more than three decades of your kindness.
And it’s not just your kindness towards me, but it’s your expectation for both of us and our family, to open our home and lives for others. You continue to stretch me in that way, but you also protect and provide generously to make it happen.
More than thirty years ago, in that dusty dance hall a few miles north of Waco, you surprised me with your kindness. You keep surprising me today.
Celebrating you today, happy birthday to my love!
Thank you Essie for our beach pics!