One Ripe Tomato

Last night I partied with about 100 old Mexicans. It was a type of fun I hadn’t been anticipating.

It was Diane’s mom’s neighbor’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, and they went all out- a giant buffet, a 3 tier wedding cake, a bar and a band playing insanely loud 1950’s Mexican-American jazz (think zoot suits in Los Angeles).

There was this one song where Diane jumped up and grabbed the groom and danced- no one could decide (even our hosts) what the lyrics were, or the title, but almost everyone has heard it: it sounds like the lyrics are

One ripe tomato!
I said a one ripe tomato!
One ripe tomaaaato!
‘said a one one ripe tomaaaa-to!

The guests were constantly on the dance floor. I remember watching them and having a sense of “this is how it is supposed to be.” I think large parties for our generation should have a brief “how to dance” session for the first ten minutes the band is playing.