Brooke Shields takes time to ‘smell the flowers’ as she celebrates her 56th birthday

Brooke Shields has a lot to be thankful for as she celebrated her 56th birthday on Monday, May 31.

And as she continues her rehabilitation following a traumatic leg injury where she broke her right femur bone, the actress and model also has plenty to wish for in the weeks and months ahead.  

‘Making birthday wishes,’ Shields captioned two photos that she shared on Instagram showing herself in the midst of making a wish in two very different scenarios. 

Painting a scene of serenity and one with Mother Nature in the first photo, the New York City native can be seen smelling a few small stems of flowers while on the beach just feet from incoming waves.

The gesture was likely a nod to the old quotes: ‘smell the flowers’ or ‘smell the roses,’ which translates to someone taking the time out to acknowledge life’s blessings.  

The Pretty Baby star is dressed casually for her afternoon excursion to the beach in a red t-shirt, dark sunglasses and a black baseball cap over her long brown tresses.

As for the second photo: Shields is pictured sitting at a dining room table with her birthday cake and candles lit and ready for her next wish of the day.

Drenched with white icing, the cake has two tiers, three candles, and a bouquet of pink flowers as decoration on top. 

As the day began to give way to the evening, Shields opted to wear a black-patterned long sleeve shirt and her long locks flowing to around the middle of her back with a slight part on the left.   

The mother of two has been giving her Instagram and Twitter followers updates on her physical therapy, along with some of the traumatic details of the accident which led to her broken femur bone. 

Just this past Friday she posted X-rays taken shortly after she broke her thigh bone during a workout session four months ago. She also posted a picture of the large incision in her right leg following surgery, a mirror selfie of her lying on a hospital bed, and another showing the large break in the femur in an X-ray.   

The injuries were severe enough that she wound up having three surgeries, three blood transfusions, at least seven rods, and a metal plated inserted into the broken femur, all while suffering complications, including a staph infection.

Through all the health scares, Shields has had to relearn how to walk again with the help of physical therapists.

She has also decided to use the injury and its downtime as a means for ‘a fresh start ‘ and to have ‘a new outlook.’

‘While this was one of the scariest moments of my life, it was also transformative. The beginning is now…’ she captioned a series of photos showing the X-rays of her broken bone and other images of her time in the hospital and recovering at home. 

‘If I can turn it into anything positive, or I can teach my girls, yeah, stuff is going to happen in your life, and how you respond is going to define you, and adversity will reveal you,’ she told Deborah Roberts during an interview on Good Morning America last Monday.

‘It won’t make you as much as it will reveal you because you see who you are. You see what you’re made up of.’