I had one of those weird dreams last night, that I am usually able to avoid. My dream was about Fareed, who was my former barber who died of an aneurysm back in January of '04. I remember that period of my life was extremely weird. While I was at work, I got a call on January 15th 0f 2004 , that my grandmother had passed away. She had been battling cancer for about 2 or 3 months, and shortly after being placed in assisted living, she passed away. I remember breaking down crying in front of my co-worker, and then I went home. I remember I called my girlfriend at the time, and asked her to come over, and I remember being intimate with her for a good 2hours. I didn't bother telling her about my grandmother, I just wanted to forget about it for a little bit. Fast forward to January 20th of '04, that same girlfriend didn't get me JACK for my birthday at all..No card, no dap, no nothing, because she was allegedly broke at the time, although I learned later that the real reason was she wasn't feeling me anymore. I also remember feeling weird that day, because my grandmother hadn't called me to wish me a happy birthday. I was sad that entire day.

My father called me a couple of days later and told me that the funeral was going to be on Saturday January 24th, so I made flight arrangements to get out there on the 23rd. On January 22nd, I went to the barber shop to get my haircut with Fareed. I told him about my grandmother, my girl, and he talked about his son, and NY hip hop which was his favorite subject. I left out of there, he gave he dap, and then said God bless. A week had passed, and I attended my grandmother's funeral, returned to work, and lo and behold it was time for an additional haircut. I called the shop, they said Fareed was sick. I called his cell phone, and it went straight to voicemail. The next day, it was the same routine. The next day I called the shop, and they finally leveled with me, and told me that Fareed had died of a brain aneurysm on Saturday, January 24th. The same day of my grandmother's funeral. I don't remember crying that day at all, but I did remember him giving me dap, a half-hug and saying God Bless. I guess that was his way of saying goodbye.

So early this morning, when I had this dream it was weird. I walked in the shop, and waited for my current barber, but he wasn't there. And then I saw Fareed, and I walked over to his chair, and he didn't recognize me at first. Then he did his customary introduction, and when I said my name, he was like, "Oh, shit! What's up Rashad", and he gave me dap and a half hug just as he had during our last real exchange. The dream ended mid haircut, and I don't remember our convo, but it was good seeing him again. I have no clue where that dream came from either...as I'm typing this I am remembering a good friend of mine has a dream book. Perhaps I should consult her.