In The Pipeline: Ten years later, her joy lives on

Erin told me that, in one way, the 10 years have flown by, that it does feel like yesterday, and that she feels as though she and her army should have changed the world by now (though we all know she has).

She also said, though, that when you miss someone so much every single day, it also slows time down. She said she survived the trauma by relying on the faith and belief that her daughter was watching her and didn't want her mom to wallow in misery for the rest of her life, nor would she want her own life to be defined by what happened to her.

So she'd stare at pictures of her baby and decide that crying was not always necessary because this was a child who always made her laugh and smile — so why let all of those memories be tainted by how she was taken?

"It's still very sad," she said. "But I focus on the goodness of Samantha and how she always made me feel."

On July 26, Samantha's 16th birthday, Erin has organized an event at 10 a.m. at the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, near the monument that's dedicated to her daughter. Then, later that day, she'll return to the site off the Ortega Highway where Samantha was discovered — a site that truly surprised her when she reached it last week.

"It sounds strange, but it's really quite open and beautiful," she said, "not remote and hidden at all. People were lined up to go paragliding off the side of the mountain, and you have to know that Samantha's two favorite movies were 'Hercules' and 'Peter Pan.' She'd say, if Hercules could fly, he would be her favorite. So to watch these people flying, at this leaping-off point, it struck me that there is some poetic beauty in that this is where she was when it was time for her soul to fly."

You can donate, volunteer and learn more about Erin at http://www.thejoyfulchild.org.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 19 books, including the new "Baseball in Orange County" from Arcadia Publishing. You can chat with him on Twitter @chrisepting or follow his column at http://www.facebook.com/hbindependent.