No offense to your Vitamix, but it's safe to say that this is the greatest wedding gift of all time.
Although Kathy and Brandon Gunn have been married since Sept. 1, 2007, they still had one wedding gift that they hadn't opened – until this May. Kathy wrote a post explaining why they'd waited to open the gift, which was from her great Aunt Alison and was attached to a note that read, "Do not open until your first disagreement." "Now, there had obviously been plenty of disagreements, arguments and slammed doors throughout our 9 years," she wrote in the post, which was shared by the page Love What Matters on August 29. "There were even a couple of instances where we both considered giving up … but we never opened the box."
Kathy admits that they'd avoided opening the box after all these years because they thought it would have symbolized a failure. "To us, it would have meant that we didn't have what it takes to make our marriage work – and we're both to stubborn and determined for that," she wrote. "So it forced us to reassess situations. Was it really time to open the box? What if this isn't our worst fight? What if there's a worse one ahead of us and we don't have our box?!"
Although Kathy and Brandon Gunn have been married since Sept. 1, 2007, they still had one wedding gift that they hadn't opened – until this May. Kathy wrote a post explaining why they'd waited to open the gift, which was from her great Aunt Alison and was attached to a note that read, "Do not open until your first disagreement." "Now, there had obviously been plenty of disagreements, arguments and slammed doors throughout our 9 years," she wrote in the post, which was shared by the page Love What Matters on August 29. "There were even a couple of instances where we both considered giving up … but we never opened the box."
Kathy admits that they'd avoided opening the box after all these years because they thought it would have symbolized a failure. "To us, it would have meant that we didn't have what it takes to make our marriage work – and we're both to stubborn and determined for that," she wrote. "So it forced us to reassess situations. Was it really time to open the box? What if this isn't our worst fight? What if there's a worse one ahead of us and we don't have our box?!"
I honestly think that we both avoided turning to the box, because it would have symbolized our failure. 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. Was it really time to open the box? What if this isn’t our worst fight? What if there’s a worse one ahead of us and we don’t have our box?!? As my Great Uncle Bill would say, 'Nothing is ever so bad that it couldn’t get worse.'
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. After all, 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.
For 9 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. 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."
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