And I will see you when the sun comes out again.

In August of 1992, my friend and co-worker died in a boating accident on the Maumee River. Eric Light, affectionately known to all of us on the Dominic's crew as Beige, stood up on the boat he was riding on and was thrown off by a wave.

Beige was about 3 1/2 sheets to the wind, alas. Unable to control his muscle function enough to struggle, he drowned. It was a shock to all of us to lose Beige - he was just 24 years old, handsome, energetic and lively. His loss struck us hard.

At his funeral, Beige's mom handed us all green satin ribbons. "We donated Eric's organs," she told us. "His kidneys went to two little kids and his heart is going to young woman at the University. He'd want you all to know."

Leave it to Beige to give his big, generous heart away. He couldn't say no to anyone.

We knew anyway. Beige used to ask random people - staff and customers alike - if they were organ donors. If they answered "No", he would ask them if they recycled. Invariably, someone would get indignant and snap "Of course I do!" Beige, with his impish grin, would ask "Then why won't you recycle yourself?"

When I came across this site tonight, I immediately thought of Beige, and I laughed and laughed. He would have been first in line to buy one of those t-shirts.

I still miss his laugh and his after-hours goofiness and his willingness to dance at 3AM after a rough 14-hour shift. I miss his corny jokes and his mischievous smile and the kind way he would help our more elderly patrons to their favorite tables.

I miss the glint he would get in his eyes when some poor, unsuspecting soul asked him "Why do they call you Beige?" Someone always assumed that it was because he was a very light-skinned African American fella - which, in truth, it was - but Eric liked to tell people "When I'm making love to my girl, she always says 'Beige. I think I'll paint the ceiling beige."

It was always great fun to watch those folks splutter and stammer and eventually crack up in the face of Beige's gorgeous, bright smile.

I still have the green ribbon from Beige's funeral. I think, though, that I'd rather have one of those shirts, and I imagine that I can hear Beige laughing and telling me that he thought of the phrase first.