"I don't see letters, I see patterns..."

We are writing. It's good. It's going well. It is a back and forth process. We like it a lot. It involves spelling. I have a particular, almost pathological problem with people spelling "paid" as "payed." Everybody does it, including highly intelligent people. Including one of the most intelligent people I know. Anyway, one of us just spelled it that way and we had our recurring, endless 30 second loop of a discussion about how nobody can spell anymore, always with me concluding that we are all doomed because nobody can spell anymore.

This time, I added "But there is no excuse for you, Meredith (whose name means 'High Lord of the Seas,' by the way) because you read so much.

She responded "When I read, I don't see letters, I see patterns."

I lose this round.