What He Never Said: Patrick Kerl on Grief, Family, and Generational Wounds

Welcome to an intimate episode of the Slice of Empathy podcast, where we delve into a deeply personal journey of marriage, family dynamics, and the quiet weight of unrecognized trauma.

In this episode, we explore my husband’s story — raised by a devoted single father after his parents divorced, while navigating the emotional distance of a mother who was present only on weekends and largely unavailable. After losing his father to cancer at just 16, he moved in with his mother and stepfather — a man who barely tolerated him, offering little in the way of support or connection.

The loss of his mother years later to the very same cancer, and the absence of emotional acknowledgment or healing in between, left wounds that lingered into adulthood.

Together, we reflect on the generational and emotional impacts of this journey, and what it means to build a marriage when your earliest examples of love and security were fractured or missing. This is a conversation about grief, resilience, and learning how to show up for each other — even when no one showed up for you.