Bag Lady...you're gonna break your back

Damaged goods is just a very polite way of saying I'm very f***ed up and have no intention to try to be better, different, nicer.

And when someone has already told you they're damaged, if they do anything that upsets you, and rest assured they will, they can (and will) always turn round and say "But I told you I was damaged".

It makes no sense.

So don't fall for it.

My advice, ladies and gents, is when someone tells you they're damaged, is to cancel your order and send it back to the kitchen.

You were looking for a nice plate of sirloin steak and they sent you a plate of bush meat full of bullets and schrapnel. No matter how much peppercorn sauce or bearnaise you add, its not going to make the bush meat a sirloin. The side order of veg (aka the effects) might temporarily distract you but they won't fulfill you. It was defective from the start.

So send it back.
(And spare yourself the pain of cracking a tooth on the unexpected shrapnel)

If you're over 35 and single, you've probably been in the dating game for 15-20 years so yes, agreed you've probably picked up some baggage along the way.

If you're over 35 and married, especially if you married for the wrong reasons (you know who you are), you've definitely picked up more than your fair share from the conveyor belt.

If you're over 40 and unmarried, maybe you're defective, maybe not. All our choices are half chance anyway. Like everybody else, you'd have made some good choices and some bad choices. But agreed, you too will be carrying some excess baggage.

Marriage is not for everybody and there are a number of married people who probably shouldn't be (again, you know who you are).

So in short, married, single, young, old, everybody has baggage. Nobody is perfect, you're not, I'm not, he's not. So how about we all stop pretending or striving for a level of perfection that is unattainable and learn to love the imperfections that make us all who we are.

So I'll urge you to deal with the issue of excess baggage by following the advice of Ludacris.

Just drink some prune juice and let that ish go.