Reading your stories makes me happy I've had my Canadian visa since I was a kid. We get to visit each other every 2-3 months tops.
I wish though, that the process was a bit more transparent, the anxiety of waiting months with absolutely no updates adds so much stress, and the fact that there's no clear timeline of when anything is happening. At least if we knew that in month 4 they work on this, and then month 5 work on that... but nothing.
I also see that there's no actual order, to me it doesn't make sense that they've requested my biometrics and medicals, but haven't approved my husband (the sponsor), or done background check. In my head those would be the most important things to do before working on the applicant.