Once upon a time, there lived a tiny and adorable yet remarkably unwelcome bug named Adelgid. She grew up in a deep, dark forest filled with towering Hemlocks. The trees were so fluffy and tall, not a single sun ray ever touched the damp forest floor.

     Adelgid spent every day and night slowly wandering through the forest, drinking the sweet, sticky sap that oozed from the great Hemlocks. Waddling limb to limb, she traded dry twigs for sticky needle clusters. She had lived her whole life in a seemingly endless forest filled with seemingly endless trees, all of which seemed to be filled with endless amounts of sweet, golden sap.

     
     After a while though, Adelgid had travelled every inch of the forest. The once beautiful woods, shaded quietly by the giant trees with their fluffy branches heavy from dew, had slowly become dry and hot from the burning sun. Adelgid searched every tree in the forest over again looking for more delicious sap, but of course she could not find any. She had eaten all of it! Confused and afraid, she decided to step out of her forest for the first time ever.

     She waddled through a strange world, searching and sniffing every tree she came across, but none smelled quite right. Eventually though, she stopped. Though, not because she had given up, she was a very determined bug. It was truly because she had reached the end of her world.

     Before her was the ocean, which she had never seen or even been able to fathom. She found it mysterious and strangely peaceful. At the very same moment that the calm came over her, so did a very strong gust of easterly wind which picked her up and carried her high into the sky. As she was swept farther and farther away by the unrelenting current, she looked back and was able to see her little world from above for the first time. She remembered her forest and felt as if she could almost see it in the distance. She felt so secure in the arms of the wind that she eventually fell asleep, adrift in the sky.

     She travelled across an ocean, asleep. When she woke, she found herself in a forest even deeper and darker than hers. She didn't recognize the strange trees though, they were different than the ones back home. She slowly made her way up the trunk of a giant tree, sniffing as she ascended. When she reached the lowest branch, she was overcome with a familiar feeling. It took her a few more minutes of ferocious sniffing before she realized it was the smell of Hemlock sap!

     She had grown hungry in her travels and she wasted no time before gluttonously devouring every bit of sap in the tree. Once again, she was able to gorge day and night, which she happily did. However, before long and once again, her new forest was as dry as her old one, and Adelgid did not understand why. She had no idea it was due to her voracious appetite for Hemlock sap.
     Adelgid was then forced to go out in search of another new forest. She traveled far, even farther than before. She slowly and faithfully waddled over mountain ranges, through deserts, around vast lakes, and through fields of tall grass until her steady sniffs started to produce that same familiar feeling as before. This time, she quickly was able to identify it as the smell of Hemlock sap.

     Unfortunately though, poor Adelgid had not learned her lesson. She never realized how destructive her appetite for sap was. Before long, she had entirely cleaned out the new forest. When Adelgid arrived it was green and lush but when she left, dry and desolate.

     Adelgid moved on the same way she always did. Her forests though, never fully recovered. Even though Adelgid had an unhealthy relationship with her forests, she loved them just as much as you or I and couldn't change how she effected them. She just couldn't help it, she was Adelgid: the tiny and adorable, yet remarkably unwelcome bug.