This Couple Waited Almost A Decade To Open A Wedding Present

this couple waited almost a decade to open a wedding present [Music] [Applause] [Music] most of us find it quite challenging to find that perfect wedding present for someone you care about even if the couple has a gift registry many would rather give something off list and exceptional and memorable this way the gift will have a special meaning to the couple on a personal level for kathy and brandon gunn a lovely couple from northville michigan they received one such wedding gift however they felt that the present was so unique that they left it unopened for over nine years once they did open it its secrets had more of an impact than they ever could have imagined brandon and cathy gunn are a wonderful married couple from northville michigan located just outside of detroit one evening nearly a decade after their own marriage the guns found themselves preparing for a friend's wedding as such the two were talking about what present to pick up for their friends we were talking about how excited we were to attend an upcoming wedding in kalamazoo where we met and went to college kathy said as the two talked about the present they started discussing gifts from their own wedding brandon and his wife spoke about one wedding present in particular the strangest gift either of them had received in their entire lives in particular brandon and kathy gunn discussed a wedding present that believe it or not they had not opened in the 10 years since their wedding that's right of course it sounds rather strange if not downright rude to receive a wedding present and not open it for nearly a decade meanwhile since the couple was discussing the gift it's not as though they'd accidentally forgotten about it or lost it in fact brandon and kathy knew precisely where the gift was however the couple had an excellent reason for not opening the gift for all these years you see the present had also come with very specific instructions explaining when to open it as you might imagine brandon and kathy's 2007 wedding was a sight to behold nearly 300 friends and family came from all over the united states to celebrate with the couple in michigan as it was a wedding the newlyweds received plenty of gifts to commemorate their special day however out of all the presents one stood out in particular kathy's great aunt alison gave the couple a wrapped box with precise instructions attached do not open until your first disagreement read the accompanying note from kathy's relative the presentation itself was very unique and it's not the typical gift kathy said to abc news had brandon and kathy really not disagreed in nine years we need to be clear the instructions said to open the present after the couple's first disagreement not merely wait 10 years to do so even for the strongest couples in the world going 10 years without a disagreement seems downright impossible however brandon and kathy are not claiming to have a perfect union like any marriage we've faced stressful times and obstacles finances jobs kids etc that tested our partnership kathy said there was even a couple of instances where we both considered giving up but we never opened the box i honestly think that we both avoided turning to the box because it would have symbolized our failure meanwhile kathy's great aunt allison who gave them the present could not believe the couple's incredible patience while those closest to brandon and kathy knew how patient the two of them could be great aunt alison the gift giver could not in fact cathy also could not believe that she and her husband had made it as long as they had she'd predicted that they would open it within the first year or two to have a good laugh and move on that obviously didn't happen years passed on and the box remained unopened then things started to bother alison so much that she actually decided to head over to brandon and kathy's house and talk to them about when they intended to finally open her wedding present just two years into brandon and kathy gunn's marriage and kathy's great aunt alison could not understand why her niece hadn't opened a gift yet so she called her niece and asked if she could come over allison intended to get to the bottom of the mystery she could never have expected that brandon and kathy would wait another eight years to unveil the present my aunt looked at us like we were crazy kathy told abc news however after a little bit of explanation kathy managed to convince her great aunt that she and brandon had good reasons for not opening the present however another member of the family was not as convinced after a conversation with kathy and brandon allison felt a lot better about the whole ordeal however kathy's mom shown here still had a very legitimate question my mom was like kathy what if there's food in there or something if that was the case the wedding present might be well and truly ruined thankfully we did ask allison to make sure there wasn't anything perishable in there or time sensitive kathy said to abc news as stated following that conversation the box remained unopened for another eight years and it wasn't only due to the couple's love for one another it also had to do with their fiercely competitive spirits the years continued to pass and brandon and kathy still did not open the wedding present from allison despite the occasional disagreement or rough patch while they had emotional reasons to not open the gift they also had some petty ones my husband and i are both very competitive people she said we love a challenge the presentation itself was very unique and it's not a typical gift we kind of set it aside because it was special to us however with every passing day it almost became harder to open the present brandon and kathy seemed to be waiting for that elusive perfect moment and some felt that moment would never come for the couple as anyone can tell you the longer you put something off the harder it becomes to do it meanwhile the unopened present had become something of a comfort to kathy and brandon we've obviously had tons of disagreements kathy said but we didn't want to turn to the box because once you open it you don't have it and then what do you do opening the box meant crossing a line neither was entirely comfortable with crossing the couple would ask themselves was it really time to open the box kathy said what if this isn't our worst fight or what if there's a worse one ahead of us and we don't have our box however that didn't stop others from becoming impatient it's not hard to see why kathy's great aunt alison felt scared that brandon and kathy would never open the gift or perhaps didn't want to however nothing could be further from the truth the funny thing the gift that meant the very most to me was still sitting in a closet unopened kathy explained in an interview the wedding present had so much meaning not just because of the day kathy and brandon received it but also who gave it you see just a year before the couple's wedding allison's longtime husband of 50 years and one of kathy's favorite relatives uncle bill had passed to her and brandon the wedding present represented their last connection to him because of the terribly sad passing of uncle bill after his 50 years of marriage to allison brandon and kathy felt significant pressure to wait until the perfect moment to open the gift and reveal its contents and even though the instructions said do not open until your first disagreement the couple felt that opening it during a negative episode their lives would ruin the extraordinary present we didn't want to ruin the importance of taking that in by opening it after a silly fight cathy said to the today show however the couple was starting to feel too curious about the contents of the box as my great uncle bill would say nothing is ever so bad that it couldn't get worse kathy added the couple decided the time had finally come sitting on their porch talking about the unopened present and wondering what they should get their friends brandon and kathy gunn had a realization ten years have been long enough brandon had a great idea why not open the gift not as a solution to a disagreement but as a celebration of their healthy marriage if we've made it this far said brandon i don't think we need the box to save us after 10 long years brandon and kathy felt they'd finally arrived at the perfect time to open the present from aunt allison and uncle bill however neither were prepared for what they'd find inside finally after nearly a decade of waiting to open the wedding present and the rest of the gun family almost going insane kathy and brandon decided to open the mysterious gift with their children alongside them brandon brought the present out of the closet and put it on the table taking a deep breath the couple started opening the gift we thought there would be a long heartfelt letter about the struggles alison and bill had faced kathy said afterward however when they lifted the lid and revealed the contents a strange look of confusion washed over kathy and brandon's faces what was this peculiar collection of knickknacks and paper opening the gift brandon and kathy found a very odd assortment of objects in the mysterious wedding present first they pulled out another box that contained some ordinary albeit a tad fancy bathroom items like lotion and hand towels next to this sat two wine glasses and a matching vase then at the bottom they found two bundles of cash with small notes attached brandon and kathy felt quite confused by the items as you probably do fortunately the handwritten messages did provide some answers in fact the two notes that kathy and her spouse found provided all the additional instructions they needed at first glance kathy and brandon didn't understand allison and bill's gift however the very first note revealed all wrapped around the first bundle of cash was a small sticky note addressed to kathy go get a pizza shrimp or something you both like get a bath ready meanwhile the note addressed to her husband stated go get flowers and a bottle of wine as it turned out much of the gun family had been right all along all along we assumed that the contents of the box held the key to saving a marriage the mom wrote an age-old trick unbeknownst to us rookies still the president had given them so much more than just a few old secrets after all this time kathy and brandon gunn looked at allison like some sort of marriage expert after all my great aunt and uncle had been married for nearly half a century kathy continued it seemed appropriate to expect that they would unveil some secrets of the trade to the newlyweds so we thought the box would save us and in a way it did the box went beyond what i believe my great aunt had intended it was by far the greatest wedding gift of all kathy said for nine years even without being opened the box still had been a gift to kathy and brandon just in a different way than most expected for nine years and three moves that box sat high on a shelf in various closets gathering dust cathy wrote in a facebook post after opening the wedding present yet it somehow taught us about tolerance understanding compromise and patience our marriage strengthened as we became best friends partners and teammates kathy added 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 with us of course after kathy started telling people that she opened the box everyone wanted to know the same thing how did her aunt alison react to the news just a few months after opening the box and her initial facebook post she updated everyone with some news first she'd contacted aunt allison and told her the story as you might imagine the great aunt felt delighted to know that a present had meant so much to her niece moreover she wished them as successful of a marriage as she had enjoyed ellison thought it was amazing kathy added 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 meanwhile kathy had also taken the few months to reflect even more on the importance of the wedding present i felt like if we hadn't opened the box yet we've got everything we need to make this thing work kathy told abc news in 2016. when you're young and learning to be married and compromising all that we often thought the contents of the box would reunite us now kathy says she finally realized the true meaning of the wedding present i think the true story was working it out for ourselves that there wasn't any gift that was going to reunite us or make it better kathy said it was something that we were going to have to do ourselves however the story of brandon kathy allison and the wedding present doesn't end there during an interview with huffington post kathy reflected on what she'd learned over nearly a decade of marriage life throws so many twists and turns that all of us outside of marriage and dealing with those problems can be difficult without someone to count on she said brandon is my constant kathy continued no matter what struggles i'm faced with i know that i can always count on him to be in my corner and me and his 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 time or day kathy and brandon are incredibly grateful for the journey the wedding present brought them on and all it taught them today the couple feels closer than ever and expect their love story to continue forever and ever not only that but they hope that their story can inspire others i hope it will inspire people to reassess their situation and think about their love why they got married in the first place kathy said to abc news when you're young and learning to be married and compromising all that we often thought the contents of the box would reunite us it was something that we were going to have to do ourselves however the couple had no idea just how their story would literally inspire people all around the world three months after kathy wrote the facebook post in august 2016 kathy and brandon's story took yet another interesting turn you see the popular lifestyle site love what matters picked up on the tale and shared it with their followers on social media from there the story went completely viral catapulting brandon kathy allison the wedding present and even uncle bill to internet stardom as of this writing the love what matters post has garnered over 20 000 likes and 4 000 shares on facebook from there kathy's original post on her personal facebook also took off and the family still receiving positive comments to this day people worldwide felt incredibly touched and inspired by the tale of the wedding present and brandon and kathy's patience i think the gift worked just the way your aunt intended it to wrote facebook user susan davies you didn't open it at your first agreement but left it on the shelf where you had to see it every time you opened that closet it was a silent reminder to you both and probably in some way acted as a set of breaks when you did disagree on something davies added keeping the anger level to a slow burn instead of a volcano elsewhere others could not stop gushing over the gift itself and the thought that ann ellison put into it while many praised brandon and kathy gunn's patience others felt ecstatic about allison's gift wow bob wigman wrote in a facebook comment section this is the wisest kindest most loving gift your aunt could have given you this is brilliant and wonderful and i hope you know very much your aunt loved you to do this thank you for sharing this precious gift with us after love what matters and kathy herself shared her story others felt compelled to share stories of similar unusual gifts believe it or not there are people from all around the world that have been given loving gifts that became emotional tentpoles in their lives one facebook user tracy sakula decided to share her own story on kathy's post we had the same kind of gift she wrote the minister that married us almost 16 years ago gave us a bag of m ms he told us if we ever argue we are to open the bag together and save her one at a time letting it slowly melt in our mouth while we reflect on what we've built together the bank still sits in my husband's dresser drawer unopened 15 plus years later sakula added sakula's words were somehow echoed by another facebook user pauline wire who wrote about the wedding gift she'd received from her grandmother just like kathy and brandon's wire's item had come with specific instructions kathy and brandon soon learned that they were not the only ones who waited a long time to open a unique wedding gift in fact they discovered that there were many people out there who lived through very similar situations one of them was paulie wire who contacted the couple over facebook my grandmother gave us two precious tea cups and saucers with several kinds of tea to sip whenever we have struggles wire explained unfortunately we had to throw out the tea before it was ever used due to expiration and we still have the beautiful teacups and haven't fought yet not only were kathy and brandon gunn contacted by people who had not opened wedding presents for a long time but they were also approached by those who had participated in giving similar gifts since aunt alison was a tad too old for a facebook these excellent gift givers decided to contact the couple to tell their remarkable stories for instance facebook user cheryl stemple revealed that she had once participated in a unique present of her own two years ago when my niece got married we did a little something along the same lines stemple wrote but what was the unique thoughtful gift that stemple gave to her niece stemple then went into detail about her kind wedding present everyone that attended the wedding wrote a special memory of the couple words of advice or something great about the day they got married she explained i folded the strips into lucky origami stars and placed the message in a huge jar when the couple were having an argument they were to sit down together and open a star and focus on the words that people gave them on their special day stumble explained they say that in times when they're feeling angry or hurt it helps them to remember what brought them together