Leah, Thank you for the link. I especially like these few points in the article:
So don’t get caught up in excavating theme and holding it up to the light for inspection. In fiction, theme is best implied, running as a current underneath the characters and actions on the page.
Sometimes people get too caught up in analytical thinking of fiction stories they forget to "feel" the characters and events happening. I especially enjoyed this discussion because we allowed ourselves to really feel and get to know each of the characters.
Again, I will say thank you to everyone who participated.
Happy 4th of July!!! * * *