Problem is, I find it very difficult to define the boundaries of "true friendship" because I have not had any events in my life that tested those friendships.

Problem is, I find it very difficult to define the boundaries of "true friendship" because I have not had any events in my life that tested those friendships. Family (at least the ideal functional family) as portrayed in media, and that I have seen in my parents' generation is supposed to be the fail-safe support system that has your back no matter what. True friendships are supposed to be "almost as good". I can point to several instances where family members rallied together to bail out another family member from a crisis. I have never seen this happen in my friends circle. Not that I think it is not possible, some of us have been friends since middle school, and we regularly keep tabs on each other over phone despite many of us being in different locations. But in a time of crisis, how far would they go to help me out? I really don't know. And looking at history (my own family's history and general anecdotes), I'm going to guess nowhere near as far as what family would do for you. I obviously still value the friendship and ensure I don't miss meet-ups (real or virtual), but I have come to the conclusion that even "strong friendships" have hard ceilings. These ceilings are almost impossible to breach and I imagine only something like literally saving your friend's life could promote you to the next tier. I agree with the saying "Blood is thicker than water".