It has been nine years since Kathy Gunn and her husband Brandon received a mysterious wedding gift with a note that read “Do not open until 1st disagreement.”

The couple has been through three moves and numerous arguments, even had children, and yet they never opened the curious white box, Gunn recently wrote.

The gift was from Kathy Gunn’s great aunt Allison, who had been married to Gunn's great uncle Bill for nearly half a century.

“I honestly think that we both avoided turning to the box, because it would have symbolized our failure,” Gunn wrote in a post for the ‘Love What Matters’ Facebook page. “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?!?”

The pair never knew what was inside the box, but assumed that it would hold “the key to saving a marriage.”

It wasn’t until Aug. 29 the couple decided to open the box, Gunn said — and not because they had finally had an argument big enough to finally merit revealing what it contained.

“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,” Gunn wrote. “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."

Inside the box was two wine glasses, bath soaps and two notes wrapped around money.

One note was for Kathy and the other for her husband.

The first read, “Kathy, go get a pizza, shrimp or something you both like. Get a 'bath' ready.”

The second read, “Brandon, go get flowers and a bottle of wine.”

The contents of the box may not have been what Gunn and her husband thought they would be, but that’s not what matters, Gunn wrote.

“We thought the box would save ‘us’ – and in a way it did,” she said. “That box went beyond what I believe my Great Aunt had intended. It was by far the greatest wedding gift of all.”