Comet. kom-it Noun.
1. A
person that passes through your life repeatedly who is intense and awesome, and when
gone you are still in contact with that
person in some way but they are not a continuous partner.
I have found there is a hole in the poly lexicon. The term "play partner" doesn't fit non-casual partners. Play sounds trite. Some of these relationships can span years and even decades. Some are very deep, with a combination of intimacy, friendship, admiration, and shared
history. Poly circles use the term "play and pause" which also doesn't fit many of my "comets" as I
don't pause. Many I stay in touch with daily or weekly.
Some comets come by every 18 months when the schedules line up or, to continue the metaphor, when the stars align. I have even heard some use the term partner-partner. As in, "they are a partner but not like a partner-partner." This is an example of that
awkward lack of a term for someone who is somewhere between fully in your life at all times and a casual play play partner, that you like, but
don’t have an ongoing connection with.