Most people expect a conversation about death to feel heavy. This one feels surprisingly hopeful.
This week on Here’s What We Know, we sit down with Mike Oppenheim, host of the podcast Coffin Talk, for a conversation about fatherhood, grief, faith, forgiveness, and the question every person eventually asks: What happens when we die?
Mike shares the heartbreaking story of losing his son, how he found healing without living in anger, and why spending years with hospice patients changed everything he believed about what matters most.
Whether you share these beliefs or not, you’ll find something meaningful in this episode.
This episode is sponsored by:
Be sure to tell them Gary sent you!
(Use code “Gary” to get $89 off any service!) License #: 679261
In this Episode:
- Growing up in Berkeley and the culture that shaped Mike’s early years
- How a spur-of-the-moment college application sent him to the University of Pittsburgh
- The custody battle and international parental child abduction that took his son to Thailand
- Working through the U.S. State Department and the reality of cross-border custody cases
- Volunteering at Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix and choosing the dementia ward
- Why hospice families struggle more than the patients themselves
- The origin story of the Coffin Talk podcast
- America’s discomfort with aging and mortality compared to other cultures
- Faith, fear, and why anger never solves anything
- Blended family life, his current wife, and his two young daughters
- The moment his daughter finally got to talk to her brother
Quotations:
“What faith also is getting in touch with your heart, with your feelings, with the part of you that isn’t just a brain. And to me, my heart doesn’t get angry. My body doesn’t get angry. My brain gets angry. My ego is what tells me to be mad, which is different from being sad and crying.” – Mike Oppenheim
“I wish our culture would step back and at least acknowledge that those people who have faith, and it doesn’t matter; they can have faith in nothing, but having faith in nothing and then making lemonade out of that is exactly what anyone could be doing.” – Mike Oppenheim
Bio:
Mike Oppenheim is an author, speaker, and the creator of the Coffin Talk podcast, where he asks guests one timeless question: What do you think happens when you die? After experiencing profound personal loss, Mike found purpose in hospice volunteering and helping others have honest conversations about life, death, grief, and hope. Through his writing and podcast, he encourages people to live with greater compassion, curiosity, and appreciation for the time we have.
Guest Contact Info:
Substack: https://mikeyopp.substack.com/podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeyopp38/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mikeyopp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-oppenheim-8a5562186/