A decade or so ago, "beard friendly" environments where a lot fewer and farther between. Not that there weren't beard friendly places in the world, such as the Pacific Northwest USA, but you were certainly more likely to get negative feedback 10 or 20 years ago than you are today. I would say you are not necessarily in the minority anymore.

And as Luke says, there is the "getting used to it" factor which seems to happen after about 6 months or a year in my experience. The wife, mother, kids, etc see you on a daily basis with this new look and it becomes the "new normal" to them. I cannot tell you how many times I've read about a guy where his wife initially was very resistant to his beard, but grew to love it later.

Patience shall be rewarded!

New beard growers: Check out the Rules of Beard Acquisition.
To upload and post pictures, here is a tutorial.
Do you believe in these Common Beard Myths?