Despite being a whimsical woodland sprite bringing the gift of smiles and pretty fingernails to kids at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and Health Center, "Nail Fairy" Martina Ngo is pretty down-to-earth in her approach to romance.  

She describes the courtship and subsequent engagement and marriage to the Marine she calls simply Andrew matter-of-factly: the two met at a military ball in Las Vegas and began "hanging out," shortly afterward, she flew out to Florida to visit him, and "we've been together ever since," she shrugs.  The engagement moment was similarly devoid of frills and flowery speeches: as she describes it, "our personalities aren't serious.  We were sitting on the couch and he asked, ‘wanna get married?' And I said okay."  Three days later, after a visit to the courthouse, they were husband and wife.  

And while this all sounds like a potentially typical, casually serious relationship between two people, it should probably be pointed out that for about two years between meeting, becoming engaged, and marrying, they both lived more than 1,000 miles apart, with Andrew stationed in Yuma, Arizona and Martina living in Tacoma, where her family, friends and business are.

Ngo says the two didn't really talk about the issue of the distance between them.  She sums up their prevailing, mutual attitudes as, "if it works, it works! If it doesn't, it doesn't." She adds, "but it works!"  So what makes it work? The first and most obvious part of staying together is communicating. "We text and FaceTime every day - that's our form of hanging out," Ngo explains.  But even beyond the basic daily communication, Ngo emphasizes the importance of trust in her relationship. "You have to have trust! You shouldn't be together if you can't trust each-other."

Another key feature to the relationship's success is Ngo's independence, and ability to stay busy. "We're both independent people; when we do get together we're just two independent people together," Ngo says simply. When they are together for up to a month at a time, she says it's not hard to get into the swing of things. "I do what I'm doing, and he has his own thing," she says. Her business, Tina's Traveling Nails, keeps her occupied as a nail tech working both in a salon setting as well as in the homes of those who are unable to get to her; every other week her role as the Nail Fairy sees her in tutu and wings at Mary Bridge.  And as much as her job keeps her focused,  she says, "it's flexible - I make my own hours so I can take time to see him whenever I want to."

Ngo's final tip for thriving in a long distance relationship: "surround yourself with positive people!" And though she doesn't say it, it's clear that her own positivity keeps her sane in the hardest of times, whether she's making a sick child's day or coping with being physically away from the man she loves.