What did "middle class" mean to you when you were 20-30 something?

[dotymed]

24. I'm 51. When I was 15

I started on a framing crew making $12 an hour. After college, when I was 28, I got a job in the remodeling business (I had my own business previously) making $8 an hour, raising 4 kids and had a stay-at-home wife. I worked 12 hour days, no benefits, purchased a condemned home and worked on it every night until til about 12pm. Within a year, it was one of the nicest homes in the (decent) neighborhood.
Anyway, from 1976 until 1986, I saw the real wages for working people decline dramatically. It has continued. Thankfully, after many years, I joined the Carpenters Union. I finally made a living wage and had health insurance for the kids and I. Now, after health-related retirement, I am witnessing the further decimation of the carpenters Union. What will the wages be for my children? Any health benefits? BTW, while working in the Union, I had to work harder than ever before. There were about 200 people on the out-of-work list most of the time. If I didn't pull my weight, one call to the hiring hall and I was replaced.
I didn't join the Union for so long because I believed the propaganda spread by the owners of the construction companies. Live and learn. Too bad the next generation will not even have that chance...