I think that my wife and I are an example of the "American Dream." We come from comfortable, middle-class backgrounds.
My father got an associate's degree and over the course of his life he worked as a draftsman, a shop foreman, and eventually retired from a job as a salesman who spent four nights a week on the road. My mother was a nurse for a few years and then stopped working to raise their six children. Eventually, she went back to work teaching the developmentally disabled. She basically worked that job just to put the six of us through college. They were quite frugal, but we never wanted for much either. They scrimped and saved and now my mother can maintain that simple lifestyle on her tiny teacher's pension and their retirement savings.
My wife's parents married right out of high-school. Her father works construction. Through consistent hard work he's worked his way into upper management for the small commercial construction company he works for. Her mother has had a couple of jobs but neither for very long. She's basically always stayed home.
My wife got a bachelor's degree in Chemistry (with a bunch of loans), went to work as a laboratory technician, and steadily climbed the corporate ladder. She manages a group of engineers and quality specialists now. Nothing was handed to her. She has a reputation for doing good work and always delivering what she says that she will.
I got both a bachelor's and a PhD. My career started later and the job market was tough at the time, so I still started as a temporary employee. Instead of saying it was beneath my qualifications (which it was), I took a job as a "Technician I" in a quality control laboratory. I worked that job for a couple years to get some experience and then went into R&D at a small pharmaceutical company. I did well there for five years and was then rehired at the first company as a "Senior Research Scientist." I've worked very hard here and have been promoted to "Principal Research Scientist," which is a high-level technical position. I'm also doing leadership development work because they've identified me as having management potential.
We live in west Michigan, which if you look at the links above you'll see has a very reasonable cost of living. The Grand Rapids area is wonderful if you can stand the weather, with basically none of the traffic, crime, or blight that you see in eastern MI. We're expecting our first children now (twins!) and I'm very glad that I didn't pursue some opportunities we've had over the years to move to the west coast, because this will be a great place to raise our children in their earlier years.
So yes, I think that the "American Dream," whatever that is, is alive and well. But you can't just dream about it. You have to be deliberate. Make a plan, work very hard and consistently perform, and always play the long game. You can't just roll over when you have setbacks (believe me we've had a few). Everybody gets unlucky sometimes. Keep your head up and make the best of every situation you're in.
