Yeah, my dad's house centred around work. I don't think any of them really related to each other on a deeper level. He, being the oldest, was probably the most impacted. He also had several extended stays in the hospital at a young age (tonsils and appendix at a toddler kind of age and stage - they did those surgeries more routinely back then). Stays that were long enough for my grandma to comment how much his hair had grown since the last time she saw him. Anyway, she was going to visit him, but the piano tuner came and suggested that it would only upset the child, so she took her coat off and stayed home! He also had to spend two years halfway across the country in junior high, as he was asthmatic and allergic to grain dust (they lived on a farm) and needed reprieve. When he came back, his brother that was more outgoing, bigger, a year younger and more confident had taken his place in some ways, while at the same time feeling that my dad got more attention from the parents.
He and my mum married when my dad was 21. He greatly admired her and liked the warmth of her family. During the early years of their marriage though, he spent all of the time he did have at work. By the time I was born (I'm 11 years younger than the oldest child in our family), he had a different kind of job and hardly knew what to do with himself now that he didn't have to be at work all the time. He pretty much just filled in those spaces with doing books for various places. At that time though, my mum still hoped that things could change and that if she just tried communicating a different way, he would open up a little more.
Around the time that my brother and sister were getting married, a lot of things happened (I think that's a hard time in many people's relationships - they realize some things are unlikely to ever change. His inaction also left her hanging out to dry in a couple of ways and she was left unprotected) and I think she lost hope. He still admires her and loves her a lot, but their love languages are very different and he is unlikely to make any changes to adapt or to talk about it. She has mostly quit caring in the same way because she doesn't want to bleed to death internally, but then some things she says have a bit of a hard edge because she is so frustrated (and disappointed that it isn't different and she's committed to the marriage and realizes that it won't fix anything really to split up and will just create new problems) and I think that only makes him feel more sure that it can't change and just burrow deeper inside himself.
Everything is generally cordial in our house and I think unless certain exchanges bring it to his attention, it appears not to really bother him. Generally that sort of thing isn't on his radar and if anything is brought up (whether emotional or otherwise), his memory of it seems hazy (and it's ever been thus, so it's not a getting older thing). At the same time, I think my mum's approach sometimes doesn't work that well and she needs someone who will argue back a little bit or challenge her. She's not blameless, but I do think the lion's share of her response is borne out of his emotional unavailability.