Plan your Ohio Mother’s Day before the rain moves in

Next Sunday, May 10, is Mother’s Day—time to pick a card or book a brunch. Ohio’s major cities look set for a soggy celebration: expect plenty of clouds and a strong chance of showers all day. Akron peaks around 67°, while Cincinnati could touch 74° but bring an umbrella just in case. The holiday we now treat to breakfast buffets and store-bought bouquets started as a quiet tribute. In 1908, a daughter named Anna Jarvis organized a small church service in memory of her own mother and handed out carnations. Over the next few years she flooded Congress with letters until the second Sunday in May became a national day off. Critics now point out that later in life Jarvis herself seemed unhappy with the commercial turn the day took.

Around the globe mothers are honored in different weeks of the year, not always in May. England and France pick spring dates that mark their own traditions, Japan slots it onto the same second-Sunday pattern as the U. S. , and India’s festival runs ten days in autumn. Father’s Day in America arrived over thirty years after Jarvis’s campaign, yet today both holidays face the same challenge: how to make a day of gratitude without turning every gesture into a price tag. Planners in Ohio should decide quickly. Thirty years ago the same holiday brought heavy rain to Cincinnati and record highs in Columbus. This year may deliver more of the same—grey skies, scattered storms, and mugs of coffee to keep everyone cheerful indoors.

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