We were poor. Both parents had precarious work and had to live in my grandparents garage for a few years along with toddler me and my older sister. Then my dad lucked out and got a low level job at a community college (he was a worker not an academic, to be clear). And we started becoming a little more like the regular "middle class." The bullshit "American dream" worked just a little bit for my parents (though it was largely due to luck which tends to run out). My mom was able to go back to school but died soon after getting her Masters degree.

Unfortunately I'm now worse off than they ever were even in their toughest times.