As Hunter stood in line at the Department of Public Safety to take the written portion of his driving test for the fourth time, he looked at me and said, “I think I want to back out.” I asked, ‘Why would you want to do that? You have come so close to passing.” Hunter replied, “Because I don’t want to fail it again.”

Talk about a gut shot, I just wanted to sit on the floor and lay my head in my hands and cry. I knew this had been a tough deal for him and failing again would be a huge blow to his self-esteem.

Sitting down to take his test, he looked over his shoulder and flashed a thumbs up sign. I sat across the room watching and praying for supernatural intervention.

When the test ended, Hunter got his score immediately. I could tell by his body language he was not sure of the results. He looked back at me with a blank face, then turned and read the screen again.

He repeated that process about three times, then I finally shouted, “Well?”

Hunter then stood up in front of his computer, turned around and faced a room full of strangers. Making a fist with his right hand, he raised it to the sky, shook it in the air and yelled, “I passed! Who’s your daddy!”

The entire room began to laugh and applaud. One guy even shouted out, “Way to go dude!”

We knew something with Hunter was different after his younger brother began to pass him in development around the age of three. Hunter just seemed to “check out” and enter his own little world, ignoring everyone and everything around him. At first, we thought it might be his hearing. Nope. Maybe it was just a phase he was going through? Nope.

Ultimately at about age 8, we landed on a High Functioning Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis. So, what did that mean? Not much to his mother and me.

We spent thousands of dollars on expert diagnoses and programs for Hunter. Some worked a little, most did not work at all. There was never an “oh wow” factor with anything, so we decided to just plow ahead and treat him no differently than our other two boys.

We never used his diagnosis as an excuse for his sometimes-poor social behavior. We held him accountable the best we could, and all those glaring at us needed to mind their own business.

He faced consequences just like his brothers.

There was a time in Hunter’s life when I did not think he would be able to ride a bike without training wheels. As you are aware, he did obtain his driver’s license, and has even driven to Austin from San Antonio on I -35 by himself!

Hunter has exceeded expectations in every area of his life. I have often asked myself if I had set expectations for him too low. Maybe he would be doing even more if I had not assumed his limitations.

Throughout this entire life, Hunter has provided those around him perspective. I have always called him my “equalizer” because he always reminds me of the simplicity of life and what is really important.

I will never forget one time when he and I were driving from San Antonio to Austin for the day. The traffic was barely moving, and I could not stop complaining about it. Hunter was playing a game on his phone with his headphones on, completely ignoring my rant, at least I thought.

Eventually we came upon a wreck that was causing the backup. There was a car rolled on its side smoldering, and a group of paramedics were loading a person into the back of an ambulance.

As we rolled by the car, Hunter looked up from his game and said, “At least you’re not that guy Dad.” Then went back to playing his game.

I felt pretty selfish after he said that. Someone had been badly hurt, and all I cared about was that it was putting me behind schedule.

Hunter tells like it is, snapping things back into proper perspective quickly. I am jealous at times of his ability to speak the truth and his capacity to be so authentic.

It appears to me that I could have avoided a great deal of stress and unhappiness in my life if I had handled situations more like a person that is diagnosed with Asperger’s.

I wish I were more like Hunter in so many ways.

• Not afraid to speak the honest truth.

• Not afraid to laugh out loud at the 3-Stooges

• Not afraid to put himself first at times with no problem in doing so.

• Not afraid to tell a guy who was out walking his cat on a leash, “Well, that’s not something you see everyday Mister!

• Not afraid of what other people think because it makes sense to him.

There is no gray area with Hunter. It is what it is, so be careful what you ask because you are going to get the truth!

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles will appear on Fridays.