Kathy and Brandon started as strangers and ended up married with children. But how they got there wasn’t necessarily easy. With a peculiar gift from her Aunt on their wedding day, though, things took a complete turn…
Perfect Strangers
Brandon and Kathy met as complete strangers. From that day however, love quickly bloomed and after a few years together, Brandon popped the question. They said their “I Do’s” at a beautiful location in front of their closest family and friends. It was the start of something great…
The Big Day
On the day of their wedding, no detail was overlooked. It was a magical day, and on top of the amazing celebration, the newlyweds were overwhelmed with the amazing gifts their guests so generously gave them. One of the gifts, however, was a little strange…
Delayed Open
Wedding gifts, in general, are impressive and pretty pricy. From the wrapping paper to the cards and beautiful housewares, newlyweds sure do well on their big day. One guest, however, decided to give the couple a gift they had to wait almost a decade to open…
Hundreds of Gifts
Brandon and Kathy got married back in 2007 in Jackson, Michigan. Several hundred guests were in attendance, which meant hundreds of gifts. One gift, from Aunt Alison, was quite unusual…
The “Cool” Aunt
Kathy’s aunt Alison was a favorite of hers. She was so thrilled for the couple and excited for their big day. Aunt Alison was the fun aunt, the one who would take Kathy for ice-cream and teach her all the “cool” things she needed to know…
Alison’s Gift
Aunt Alison was also very creative. For their wedding day, she had one particular condition when it came to her gift. “Do not open until your first disagreement” it read…
Respecting Her Wishes
They were admittedly confused by the note and thought it might just be one of Aunt Alison’s typical jokes. But, in the end, they decided it wouldn’t hurt to respect her wish. They ended up holding onto the gift, unopened, for years…
Unopened
Aunt Alison inquired about the status of her gift after they had been married for two years. They told her they hadn’t opened it yet, and she was shocked…
The Long Wait
Everyone thought it was crazy that they still hadn’t opened the gift. Kathy’s mom said, “What if there’s food in there or something?” So, instead of opening the gift, she instead confirmed with Aunt Alison that the gift was indeed, not perishable. The wait continued…
Growing Family
Kathy and Brandon then got caught up in parenthood for the next couple of years. They had two babies and moved to a new home. With so much going on in their family, the gift went forgotten…
Competitive Spirit
Brandon and Kathy were pretty competitive, so they vowed to keep the gift packed away. They had a valid reason for holding off on opening it now…
The Challenge
The gift pretty much took on a life of its own at this point. They had set it aside because of how special it was, and instead, they used it as a way to test their relationship and keep them focused on what mattered most…
Reflecting
“Tonight, we tucked our kids in bed and my husband and I enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck,†wrote Kathy one night. They talked about the big picture and all the things they had accomplished together over the years.
Forgotten Gift
Suddenly, after reflecting all the way back to their wedding day, it hit them that they had forgotten about Aunt Alison’s gift! That’s when they finally decided it was time to find out what it was…
Nine Years Down
They had been talking about how excited they were to attend an upcoming wedding, when they remembered Aunt Alison’s gift. They recalled how important that unopened gift was to them and how it played an important role throughout their relationship…
Not Perfect
They had waited this long, and the funny thing was, that gift, with all that it signified to them, still remained unopened in the couple’s closet. But they weren’t perfect…
Sign of Failure
Kathy confessed that they were not different from other couples. Throughout the past nine years, she and Brandon had their fair share of arguments, but the box served as a reminder for them to keep their priorities in line. They assumed the box served as a signal of failure, and they weren’t going to give up…
Not Giving Up
There were plenty of arguments and doors slammed throughout their nine years of marriage, plenty of reasons to open the box, but they refused to give in. They had fought off opening it because as competitive people, they were not willing to admit defeat…
The Truth
“To us, it would have meant that we didn’t have what it takes to make our marriage work – and we’re both too stubborn and determined for that. So, it forced us to reassess situations,†said the Northville resident. But curiosity had them, and so, they decided to ignore the preconceived ideas they had about the gift, and thought, after nine years, they deserved to have an answer…
Always Worse
Kathy’s Great Uncle Bill would say, “Nothing is ever so bad that it couldn’t get worse.” This worried her, but also let her know that fights were normal. The couple finally took the bold step of unwrapping the gift…
The Time Was Now
They retrieved the box from the back of the closet and placed it on the kitchen table. After nine years of wrong guesses, it was time to find out what all the anticipation would lead to…
The Instructions
When they peered into the package, their guesses had all been proved incorrect. Inside, they found specific instructions…
The Orders
“Go get a pizza, shrimp or something you both like. Get a bath ready,” was written on Kathy’s note while Brandon’s note read, “Go get flowers and a bottle of wine.” Kathy recalled, “All along, we assumed that the contents of that box held the key to saving a marriage. An age-old trick – unbeknownst to us rookies.”
The Greatest Gift
Kathy said, “My Great Aunt and Uncle had been married for nearly half a century. So, we thought the box would save ‘us’ – and in a way it did. That box went beyond what I believe my Great Aunt had intended. It was by far the greatest wedding gift of all.”
A Great Lesson
Kathy shared the news with her Facebook friends in a post that read, “For nine years (and three moves) that box sat high on a shelf in various closets gathering dust. Yet it somehow taught us about tolerance, understanding, compromise, and patience. Our marriage strengthened as we became best friends, partners, and teammates.”
Doing the Work
“Today, we decided to open that box, because I finally had a realization. I realized that the tools for creating and maintaining a strong, healthy marriage were never within that box – they were within us,” said Kathy. The box might have been the physical reminder, but they had put in the work all these years. It was something to be proud of…
The Early Years
“I felt if we haven’t opened [the box] yet, we’ve got everything we need to make this thing work. When you’re young and learning to be married and compromise and all of that, we often thought the contents of the box would reunite us,” said Kathy in an interview from September 2016.
Nobody but Them
“I think the true story was working it out for ourselves and there wasn’t any gift that was going to reunite us or make it better. It was something that we were going to have to do ourselves,” said Kathy. Once they finally opened the box, Kathy contacted her aunt…
Thank You
Kathy called up her Aunt Alison and thanked her for the amazing gift. Alison didn’t even remember what her gift had been, but it made her laugh to realize the couple had waited so long to open it up!
So Much More
“She thought it was amazing. She also thought it was a great story, but she thought we were crazy. She knew it was a special gift but didn’t realize just how special it became to us,” mentioned Kathy in her Facebook post. This post spread rapidly…
Shared Online
After Kathy had shared this story with her friends and family via Facebook, a popular page named Love What Matters shared it on their page. Kathy’s sweet story touched thousands of people and she couldn’t believe the outpouring of support…
Very Popular
Kathy’s post was liked over 20,000 times and was shared over 4,000 times. Over 1000 comments popped up on her screen and that’s when she realized just how much people connected with them. She realized, the thoughtful gift had given her and Brandon so much for something so small…
Big Interview
When the Gunn family’s story took off, they were invited for an interview by a big-time media platform. During the interview Kathy shared, “life throws so many twists and turns at all of us, outside of marriage, and dealing with those problems can be difficult without someone to count on.”
My Support
Kathy was overwhelmed with the support and love. She said, “Brandon is my constant. No matter what struggles I am faced with, I know that I can always count on him to be in my corner and me in his.”
Perfect Fit
Kathy proudly says, “It’s so much easier to get through life when you have someone that will always be there for you and that would do anything for you, no matter the day or time.”