The 50-50 rule

An artist friend shared some advice, recently 
She said to me
 

Fifty percent of the people will like your work

And 50% will not.

It’s up to you how you feel about it.

It was a fair statement.

One that I’ve experienced

While selling at shows

Some make a bee line for my booth

Others turn the other way.

Sometimes I overhear people

Saying:

those things creep me out

I’m not everyone’s cup of tea

I’ve embraced that.

I don’t create with others in mind

I just create for me.

Recently I was at a family gathering

A party that happens once a year

A collection of people

Loosely related

(Like a tiny thread hanging from a baby tooth)

That a gentle pull will easily dislodge.

Near the end of the afternoon

After some polite conversation

And one too many cocktails

I realized I was being heckled.

One person was nursing old wounds

Still angry over some advice I said in the past

Another expressed disapproval 

About how I met my husband.

It was not in that gentle way

That you get from siblings 

or close friends

It felt like a jab in my side from a broken stick

By a bully in the fourth grade

It was in this moment that I smiled 

and thought about the 50-50 rule:

Fifty percent of the people will like you

And 50% will not

And you know what?

The feeling is mutual.