Ryan James Close

In case you can't read the tag it says: Ryan was a two time organ recipient and at his passing gave back by donating some of himself to those in need. Ryan gave the gift of life. You can too. Please consider becoming an organ and tissue donor. Go to www.organdonor.gov or call 1-888 ASK.HRSA Thank-you

On November 25, 2009, the would-be date of Ryan's 24th birthday, the Strehlow Family attached a note to each of these balloons and sent them a-flyin'. The note is pictured above. We will never know how many lives the note may touch or change, just as when we become a donor, we will not not whose hero we will be. There are more pictures of this event in the photo album. Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today especially i feel like ryan has been trying to get my attention..or at least thats what my roommate said. i have had my ipod on shuffle for a while now and as i was driving past the Dimple records on Arden i remembered the day Ryan asked me to join him (and 2 giant slurpees) to stand in a HUGE line to get our Hoobastank albums signed and hear them play an acoustic show..i know this wasnt his favorite music, but..he knew i had been talking about them so much at that point and i was sooooo excited to have a great friend to go with. right after i passed dimple, the acoustic Hoobastank song came on my ipod (that was still on shuffle)..so i cried for a while..then i was in Crossroads just getting some retail therapy in, and so many women's clothes were on the floor and i remember the day i was talking to Ryan not very long after he started working at Ross and he told me that womens clothing needed to be re-designed for the sole purposes of staying on hangers better. He said that they were created to fall off hangers so he would have a job, so in a sense he should be grateful...but was still annoyed at having to pick up the same shirt off the floor a million times. i think of that every time my shirt falls off the hanger..then on the radio in the store came Mrs. Robinson...the one and only song that Ryan sang on every occasion we were together...but changed the lyrics to "heres to you Amber Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know..." and i just loved that..along with may other, most-likely coincidental events, i feel just that much closer to Ryan on his birthday. What an amazing man. This is a picture of the tattoo i had done on honor of Ryan and his sacrifice. I had it done on my forearm to remind me to donate blood as much as I can, the design of the heart is for obvious reasons, and the eye in the center is for his own donation of sight to a lucky woman...what selflesness he has displayed.

    Ryan's 24th birthday is this Wednesday. I just wanted to say how greatful I am for Ryan. He is a wonderful person. I've always loved his unique personality and sense of humor. He always treated me like a queen. He always made sure I was happy. I love you Ryan and think about you all the time.

Ryan and I met while we worked at Ross together. We became quick friends. We would go on adventures up to Salt Lake City all the time. One time we drove from SLC back to Orem but we tried to find a way back to Orem without taking the freeway. We ended up in the middle of nowhere and decided to just hop back on the freeway. Ha. Oh and another time we watched Arrested Development at his house and his dad told him he was going to get married that year. We both looked at each other and said, "NOT TO EACH OTHER!" and guess what he did get married that year, to the best girl ever. Yep, That was Sara. We both laughed after he got married and we rehashed that conversation. Ha. I miss Ryan. He was one of my best friends.