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A bride and groom couldn’t open one of their wedding gifts after spending hours selecting the ideal items for their wedding registry seems unimaginable. On the other hand, one couple waited nine years after their wedding day to open their final gift.
Before unwrapping their wedding present in May, Kathy and Brandon Gunn had it sitting in the back of their closet for nine years. After being featured on the Love What Matters Facebook page on August 29, Kathy shared her story on Facebook, where it received over 12,000 likes and 1,500 shares. (For further information, see below.)
In her article, Kathy reveals that the gift she received was from her great aunt Alison, who gave it to her with a note saying, “Do not open until your first dispute has been resolved.”.
During our nine years together, there had undoubtedly been many disagreements, arguments, and slammed doors, Kathy noted in her essay. There were a few times when we both considered giving up…but we never opened the box.”
What ultimately prompted the newlyweds, who have a six-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son, to open the present? On their Michigan porch, having a glass of wine and contemplating what gift to send to an impending wedding in Kalamazoo, they discovered an unopened gift in their house. She said the box hadn’t been opened after all this time because they were “too stubborn and determined” to open it, despite the fact that they had had their share of disagreements over the years.
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She said, “It made us rethink issues.” “Was it really time to take the box out of the box?”? Is this our toughest battle yet? What if the storm gets worse and we don’t have our box? As my great uncle Bill would say, “There’s nothing so awful that it couldn’t get worse.”.”
That night, when they finally unwrapped the wedding present, they found two handwritten cards wrapped around two bundles of money, wineglasses, a vase, and bath products. Kathy and Brandon each received separate memos with detailed instructions on how to spend the money. Brandon’s note instructed him to buy flowers and a bottle of wine, while Kathy’s note instructed her to take a bath and order pizza.
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The couple’s thoughtful, imaginative gift became a source of great joy and education instead of gathering dust in the couple’s home.
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The box was high on a shelf in various closets gathering dust for nine years (and three moves), yet somehow it taught us tolerance, understanding, compromise, and patience, Kathy wrote in her essay. Our marriage grew stronger as we grew closer as best friends, partners, and teammates. Today, we opened that box because I finally realized something. The resources for building and maintaining a good, healthy marriage were always within us, not in a box.”
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The Huffington Post interviewed Kathy and Brandon after their story went viral to find out what their most significant marriage lesson is.
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Kathy told the Huffington Post, “Life offers so many twists and turns outside of marriage, and dealing with those challenges can be difficult without someone to lean on, confide in, or cry with.” Brandon has been a constant in her life. No matter what challenges I face, I can always count on him to be in my corner, and me in his. Life is a lot simpler when you have someone who is always there for you and would go out of their way to help you, no matter what time or day it is.
