I intend to watch most of the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions … such as they are.

They are “virtual” affairs, with no delegates, no applause, no balloon drops. The nominees — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump and Mike Pence — will deliver their acceptance speeches with no fans to cheer them on.

But these events that occur every four years do remind me of the two political conventions I was able to attend while working for a daily newspaper. The Beaumont Enterprise, in the Golden Triangle region of Texas, sent me to New Orleans in 1988 and to Houston in 1992 to cover and comment on two Republican national conventions.

I have to say that rarely have I had so much fun doing my job.

The COVID crisis has put a damper on the spectacle of these conventions. I hope the parties are able to resume them in 2024 and beyond. Why? Because they are so uniquely American in their atmosphere.

I have long been amazed at how grown men and women who gather in a convention hall to do some of the most serious business imaginable in a representative democracy can don goofy hats, adorn their clothing with buttons, drape bunting around their necks and carry on like school children. But they do all of that while nominating candidates to become president of the U.S. of A.

I was privileged to watch two of these events up close, first in the Superdome and then in the Astrodome.

In 1988, President Reagan strode to the podium to deliver a ringing endorsement of Vice President Bush, who was the party’s presidential nominee that year. After speaking to the adoring crowd, he and Nancy Reagan stood to accept the applause, then walked back toward the rear of the stage. I was sitting in the press gallery behind the podium and, so help me, the president and I made eye contact as he walked off the stage.

I got to meet the likes of Chris Matthews and the late Cokie Roberts. In 1988 in New Orleans I made the acquaintance of a young business executive named George W. Bush as we rode the elevator together up several floors. He asked me for my name and where I worked. I told him. He said, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of you.” Do I believe he was sincere? I’ll just take him at his word. Besides, it did make for interesting convention chatter with my colleagues.

The virtual conventions will deprive journalists of the kind of excitement I had the pleasure of enjoying.

I will await the day when the pandemic recedes and we can return to some semblance of normal life. Political conventions just aren’t the same without all the hustle, bustle and real-time tussle.