This year marks the 75th anniversary of one of the greatest movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz. The classic film will be recognized and celebrated on March 2nd during the Oscars and I can’t wait to see what the producers have in store. (Side note: I am also excited to see the new #YourHome commercial debut during the show.)

In case you missed it, we announced the #YourHome Awards honoring the best homecoming scenes in movie history this week and I couldn’t think of a movie that deserves the award more than the Wizard of Oz.

I have heard and used the quote “There’s No Place Like Home” hundred of times but until I sat down to write this post I never really stopped to think how easy it is to forget just how special home really is.

“There’s No Place Like Home”

I began thinking about how much a familiar and comforting setting like home can sometimes be taken for granted. The simple pleasures of coming home are captured and celebrated in our most recent commercial “Home Sweet Home.” Moments like kicking off our shoes, sinking into “our spot” on the couch or soaking in a hot tub after a long day provide us with serenity that no other place on Earth can provide because  there really is no place like home.

In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy gets a hard lesson and realized that in fact, the grass isn’t greener on the other side. It takes her a while but by the end of the movie she realizes that even though the colorful and exotic land of OZ looks much more exciting than her monochromatic home in Kansas, the only place she truly belongs is home. When she does return home she says

“Oh, but anyway, Toto, we’re home. Home! And this is my room, and you’re all here. And I’m not gonna leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all, and – oh, Auntie Em – there’s no place like home!”

and it is clear she appreciates her home and those in it in a way she never had before.

We should take a moment to appreciate Dorothy’s “homecoming” and revelation that there is no place like home and apply it to our own lives. We are sometimes so caught up in wanting bigger, better and more that we forget to stop and appreciate what and who we have in our life.

Do you think Wizard of Oz deserves to take home the first ever #YourHome award? Vote now and check back 2/27 to see which film wins.