Another milestone is behind us. I took the third and final child to get her permit last week.

Before that adventure unfolds, I have to give a shout out to the folks at the Lehighton DMV. What a crew!

E said to me that she doesn’t understand why everyone complains about going to the DMV, because from the knowledgeable and kind greeter to the calm woman who entered all of E’s information into the computer and directed her to the test taking station, all of them were the most patient, friendliest people I’ve ever met.

They were considerate and helpful to every person that I saw walking in the door, even those that were on less than their best behavior.

While I feel like the boys were both able to get their permits on their actual birthdays, thanks to school’s start and sports activities, E had to wait almost a week to get hers. Which was a good thing, because I felt that out of the three of them, I’d done the worst job preparing her to take her test.

Part of the reason for that is that she’s been getting driven around primarily by her brothers for the last few years, and we’ve spent very little time together in the car. Even though we did go to swim practice every morning this summer, she usually took advantage of the drive time to get a few extra zzzz’s.

Finally, about a month ago, we started having discussions about what signs meant, how to proceed at intersections, and what to be careful about in bad weather.

Most of E’s friends are older than she is, so a lot of them are already getting their licenses. Their permit preparation took place months ago. At times, I think she was embarrassed that she wasn’t even able to get her permit yet, when they were already driving.

I wasn’t really in a rush to get her there, either. Even though the boys have only been out of the house for a few weeks, it has already hit me hard that I’m heading into the home stretch. The nest is going to be emptier sooner than I’ve realized, and E getting her wheels is a giant step in that direction. It has been kind of nice to be needed again.

At the same time I’ve been dragging my feet, I’m also eager to start the whole permit process. Teaching the boys to drive was one of the few times in our lives where I can say that our relationships changed for the better.

Aside from the acknowledgment that all roads to freedom went through me, and my decisions to allow them to operate a vehicle on their own, it also returned them to a state of actually needing real information from me and having to trust that I was giving them good stuff.

When your kids are little, there is a very long period when you are the center of their universe, and you can do very little wrong. Then comes an even longer period where you are a black hole they are avoiding, and everything you do, including breathing, is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

The permit process is a six-month reprieve from that interminable time. It’s also the beginning of the time when, like it or not, you have to start seeing them as the grown-up they’re starting to become. It’s a lot easier to hand over the keys if they make that process go smoothly.

Finally, the hours spent driving together led to a reestablishment of dialogue. I know there are psychological reasons that have been documented as to why these conversations happen.

One theory is that it’s easier to have hard conversations when you’re not looking each other in the face.

Another is that the parts of your brain that are occupied with the driving skills free up the other parts of your brain to have the tough conversations.

Or maybe my kids just like to fill the space before I start barking driving directions at them.

Who knows, but the permit process does tend to revive the conversational skills that have been dormant in my teenagers.

For E, these next six months will drag on and on. For me, they will go faster than in all of the years before them. At the end of them, we’ll both be different people. E will be ready to navigate the world on her own terms, and 21 years of being their chauffeur will be behind me.

Like most things, it’s a bag of mixed emotions for me. It’s always scary to have them out on the road on their own, but at the same time, I know they’ve earned it and are ready for it.

In the meantime, wish me luck and patience!

Liz Pinkey’s column appears on Saturdays in the Times News