Describe a childhood friend you are still in touch with

I'd like to talk about my friend Rafi, who I've known since we were about six years old. We grew up in the same apartment building in Chattogram, and our mothers were close friends, so we spent almost every afternoon together, playing cricket in the car park or watching cartoons at one of our flats.

We went to the same school until Year 8, but then his family moved to Dhaka because of his father's job. At that time I was really upset, and I honestly thought we would lose touch, as often happens with childhood friends.

Surprisingly, it didn't turn out that way. At first we kept in contact through phone calls every weekend, and later through messaging apps. Nowadays, we have a group chat with a few other old friends from the building, and we share everything, from silly jokes to serious news. Whenever I visit Dhaka, I stay at his place, and when he comes back to Chattogram, we always go to the same tea stall near our old building.

I think we've stayed close because we don't need to pretend with each other. He knows my family, he knows my bad habits, and he still likes me! We've also supported each other through difficult times. When I failed my first driving test, for example, he was the one who convinced me to try again the following week.

To me, a friendship like this is really valuable, because it connects me to my past. When we talk, I feel like I'm still that same boy playing cricket in the car park, and that's quite a comforting feeling.